WAO
by Commissar Danno
Summary: Warhammer Apocalypse of Old or WAO is the first VRMMO to be launched. The first quarter million players that log in though will discover that the Old World is not a good place to live, especially when they are trapped their!
1. The Played Players of WAO

**A/N: A few notes before I get onto the story folks. First of I do not own Warhammer or Sword Art Online, I do own the plot and original characters though. Secondly this is a reimagining of the SAO universe where Akihiko Kayaba decided that instead of working in a universe of his own creation, decided to try something on a grander scale and with so many more willing fans to experiment on. That is to say he got the license to make a VRMMORPG of Warhammer Fantasy and traps a hell of a lot more players in his game. I would also like to say that after reading through Fairy Dance of Death by Catsy I was inspired to attempt to write a grand scaled Sword Art Online crossover with not only fighting but politics and game mechanics. I'm no where near as good writer as him/her, but I will try to write well enough for you to read it, though I appreciate the feed back you give me. Finally don't expect to see all the characters from the original SAO in this Fan Fic save for Akihiko for sure.**

**Also expect a few different changes to the game play as well from SAO, because when we're talking warhammer… we're talking Epic.**

**/**

_November 5__th__, 2022_

_Somewhere in America_

For almost 15 years now Rufus Adler had been an avid collector of Warhammer and Warhammer 40K, ever since his dad picked him up Dawn of War when he was 12 years old. The world, no the universe, that the game took place in had gripped him from the very start. The epic battles, the struggle between 'good' and evil and of course the sight of dozens of super powered armored warriors crushing hell spawn had made an impression in his young mind. After playing through the game, he wanted to find out more about the universe this took place in and soon discovered that it was actually based on a table top wargame owned by games-workshop. This interested him despite being a computer gamer, he wanted to actually command and to hold his own army. So after some convincing on his part he started to collect models.

His first two armies being Imperial Guard, he had found that interesting how simple humans could face down the horrors of the universe and sometimes win was pretty cool, and for fantasy it was Empire. Like all wargamers just starting out he had to face some hurdles, the first being assembling the models, which resulted in some bad cuts from a craft knife, his fingers getting constantly stuck together from glue and the models looking… not as the company had intended. But he overcame that soon enough and next faced the challenge of painting which after finishing some models that would make the eyes hurt, he decided to just prime them.

Finally he met his enemies on the battlefield… or in this case at the local game shop and failed miserably at his first game, not even knowing how to build an army list correctly. But in the coming years of solitude, being an only child and home schooled at that really didn't give him much exposer to potential friends, he developed his skills at wargaming. Even when he went to college he isolated himself though he did precipitate in class and talked to people, it was mostly for jokes and could never look another person in the eye. The only friends he did make were buddies at the gaming clubs.

So after 15 years he was now on his own as an office worker and budding historian with no life outside his hobby... oh joy.

Today was a Saturday and he was excited as he walked from his car into the Electronic Boutique Games, today was going to be a fun day he was going to play a game of warhammer fantasy later on, but right now he was going to pick up an item he had pre ordered months ago. It was something he and lot of other fans of warhammer fantasy have been waiting for a few years now, the chance to actually go into the Old World. Sure back over a decade ago there was Warhammer Age of Reckoning, but World of Warcraft had killed that MMO after only a few years and you could only play as a bunch of single players instead of armies. But this new game, a collaboration between Games Workshop and a game designer from Japan who Rufus couldn't remember his name for the life of his mother, could remember.

Warhammer: Apocalypse of Old (WAO) was a game that took place in a virtual reality setting, what was once more revolutionary was that this that the virtual reality was tapped into the brain so the players could experience the game as they would in real life, though without the pain of being stabbed, shot, eviscerated, burnt to a crisp because of a spell etc. Beyond the personal aspects of the game there was also the ability to command armies of NPCs once a character reached a high enough level, which was missing from WAR.

He rubbed his hands together warming them in the early November morning before opening the door to EB games. The girl behind the counter smiled." Hi and welcome to EB Games, can I help you with something?" Rufus answered, his eyes low to the ground." Ayup, I'm here to pick up my copy of WAO. Rufus Adler, it should be in pre orders." She did a quick check on the computer." I'll be back in a minute." She then left to go into the back, leaving him alone in the store.

While he was waiting for her to return he was mildly surprised to see one of his gaming buddies walk in the store." Hey Steve, I thought you got your copy back on the midnight release?" Steve, a man in his early fiftys with a white goatee and athletic body smiled and waved at Adler." Yeah, well I had work that night waiting tables, there was a party going on at the restaurant so wasn't able to get to the release. But I'm hoping to have my character ready by 'go time' tomorrow."

In order for players to understand the controls of the game and set up characters WAO had a release date, which was on Thursday at midnight, but an actual time that players could go online and interact with one another was going to be on the 6th at 1PM EST. In addition to players registering their characters early, which would give them a prepared way of quickly getting into the game to play, it also allowed for the game designers to composite for the flood of gamers that would log in. There was also special message for the first 250,000 players to log into the game when it launched at 1 the next day, so that was more incentive to buy and wait.

"Alright then, so what faction you going to fight for?" Rufus asked him with a smirk, knowing the answer already since Steve played as one faction in the actual table top game." Empire of course. What about you Ruffy?" Asked Steve. Rufus on the other hand usually played as one of three different factions. Empire, since that was his first army and one of his favorite bits of fluff, Dwarfs were another because they were crazy awesome with the guns and zeppelins, finally there was Chaos, if he was going to run solo and do an epic saga he would run with them. But since this was an MMO he would probably run with Empire and Dwarfs, after all who would be stupid enough to actually try and go solo in an MMO?

"Empire as well I suppose. So what do you think of there being no star- oh hello." He noticed that the girl had returned with his game. Since this was a launch title for the Nerve Gear Rufus had opted to get the special pre order ultimate edition, he couldn't believe that they would actually name it that. But he liked the bonuses that came with it, a real full sized Empire flag, a full game soundtrack both hard copy and digital, the ability to import your own track lists. concept art in a pleather bound book, a statue of an Empire witch hunter with gun and sword drawn, some metal coins that looked like in game currency, over a thousand crowns in-game starting money and a customized nerve helmet that looked like a an Empire soldiers skull helmet with glowing red eyes when turned on. Sure it may of cost a grand, before the monthly fee, but it was worth it!

Like a tens of thousands of other players that were signing up Rufus was joining WAO because of it taking place in the fantasy world of warhammer. MMO's had been around ever since Everquest started back in the last century, but warhammer fantasy had been around an additional 15 years. Over the decades there were millions of fans who played the game with armies, some as small as a few dozen minatures, to vast armies thousands strong, all before the MMO gene really took off with World of Warcraft. Unlike the other MMO worlds, the warhammer world wasn't filled with hope or even an endgame, it was grimdark where the lucky just survived and the best thing to happen to it would be a limiting of demonic incursions.

He handed over his members card and she swiped it, confirming that he had pre-bought the item." Hey I'll see you at the T-Play in a few minutes Steve." Rufus told his buddy, who nodded." Sure thing." Taking his box of goodies Rufus left the store and went to his car. He put the Nerve Gear into his back seat, the rear of his car was where he stored his dwarf army. He then drove away, the hobby store only a mile away.

After a short drive Rufus made it to the store and started to unload his car. First to get unloaded was a fishing compartment box that contained the special characters warmachines and any other old metal models, he then placed a low but long cardboard box on top, this contained most of the army, the foot troopers, the Stone Ancestors and a steam gyrocopter. He carefully walked into the store cautious not to let the box slide or to drop them." Hey Poofy" He said to the cashier, his real name was Cooper but most of the gamers preferred nick names, Poofy was a few years older than him." Hey Ruffy, I take it your playing at the tournament?" Rufus chuckled." I'm not here for best painted army. You playing?" Poofy nodded." Yup, dark elves." As Rufus walked down stairs to the game rooms he called up." Perfect monster target practice for my cannons!"

He then laid his army onto one of the gaming tables, he would move them off once he got his center piece unit. He ran back upstairs and out to his car, grabbing the flying stand first followed by the dwarf airship. It was a massive model, on the scale with a warhound titian. It was festooned with broadsides of cannons and of talismans and artwork. All was painted and ready for the battle field. Again he took the model down stairs setting it up onto its flying stand. He then went back upstairs to wait for more players." So Poofy were you able to pick up WAO?" Rufus asked him." Ayup, already made a character to. Be on the lookout for a witch elf with the name Silith, trust me when I say if you see her do not try and hit on her." Rufus smiled." Well if your going to look at some ones ass all the time, might as well be the one you pick right?" Poofy snorted a laugh." Might as well."

Rufus then saw that Steve had arrived." Hey I'll be right back, gotta see if he needs some help. See you on the battlefield!"

/

_Somewhere in England_

Roshi Petal laid on her bed and turned on the Nerve Gear, her world disappeared and became a loading screen. Then the loading finished and she could see a title screen, that looked like a war torn battlefield with piles of skulls strune about the field. She could see the words 'Warhammer: Apocalypse of Old' in type gothic lettering. She could see herself as well as she was in human form save for the clothes she wore, beneath the title, she was dressed in a pair of tan pants and a white blouse. This contrasted with her dark brown skin and long raven black hair.' Nidal said to pick a race for me to play as.' She then reached out, which was strange since she was standing in front of herself, and touched the 'create a character' option on the main menu. A semi-circle appeared, each detailing a different faction within the game.

She scrolled through the options, selecting each one. The Empire was the first one to come up, she thought that it sounded interested but from what she understood from her nerd of a brother as that it would be one of the top three factions for players in game. She wanted to try something more unique and moved on through the other selections. The Bretonnians were more focused on male martial prowess and the only real option for her was a magic user, she skipped it and continued to look. The warriors of chaos and orcs were too… extreme for her tastes, the three fractions of the elves were pretty but then she thought about how many stories she had read about 'hot female elf girls' and decided to move on from that, not wanting to become eye candy for the more experienced players that she trusted would watch her back. The beastmen, lizardmen and skaven factions were interesting and non human, but she wanted to be a player who still wore clothes and wasn't out for destruction or murder.

Finally she came to The Dwarfs and this faction caught her attention. They were unlike any other dwarfs she had really heard about, on the surface they seemed like a bunch of beardy short guys, but when she looked at the fluff, their halls and stories she saw something else… she saw a race of half crazed, honorable and with mad genius spread throughout their history. They were also not all guys as well, she read about the story of Queen Helgar and saw that the dwarf men and women were perfectly proportioned and not disfigured or stunted.

So she selected the dwarfs to be her preferred race. After that another option came up, the selection of where her dwarf woman was from. Scrolling through the options she selected Zhufbar, it looked really cool and there was a good chance she could use some of the most modern, well by fantasy standard, firearms or other weapons.

Finally she came to the actual character creation and the first question she was asked was if she wanted to be a male or female. At which point she selected female because the thought of playing a male… well that made her blush hard at the thought of the 'extra equipment'. Then she came to the character creation options, she had the option to create a character that looked like a dwarf version of herself…but she wanted to create an original character. She choose a dwarf female body, one that was much bustier and curvy than her own and chose to have her a pale pink skin. She had a cute round face, with blue eyes and blond hair done in a pair of braids. She then selected a dress, which was in the colors of Zhufbar and was a combination of cloth and chainmail. Roshi then selected a name for her character, it wasn't a randomly generated name but something simple she created, 'Rin' was her name and she pressed the button to create her.

She was finished and despite the fact that her brother would probably call her out for choosing to play a dwarf instead of an elf or some other 'girly' race. 'If he does that I'm going to remind him who it was that insisted I play a game he won two copies of because of a stupid contest.' She sighed mentally at the thought, she may of wanted to do that, but it wasn't well looked upon in her house to question the men. But at least in this game she could fight against her brother, even though he was the gamer of the family. She then found that there was a tutorial mode to the game, her new avatar smiled, she could get in some practice before she fought her brother in game. She opened up the tutorial and started to test it out the game.

/

_Somewhere in Canada _

Jacob Callaway was finding this game to be fun, even though he was playing the tutorial. Callaway was no longer the sketchy, pimple ridden 20 year old he was in the real world, instead he had become Krutz. Krutz was a chaos marauder, he had become a head taller than most men and his body rippled with muscle. He had chosen to stay neutral and instead of following one of the Chaos gods, he had instead decided to play as Chaos Undivided. It wasn't out of indecision but actually out of interest of creating his own story instead of being part of one of the chaos gods, he wanted to carve a path to glory… even if he could only do it for a few hours at a time.

He was currently playing the combat tutorial of WAO and he was loving every moment of it. His bear chested marauder was armed with an ax and had been fighting against an orc armed with a choppa. So far this was the tenth time he had done this and was finding more and more interesting ways of finishing of the greenskin. The first time he had killed the greenskin it was by slashing at it till its HP dropped to zero. Then he repeated the scenario and this time buried the axe in the beasts chest, then again by decapitating it. Now he was trying to see how long the orc lasted with various limbs cut off.

He knew how long other animals could last, he had done so in real life. He liked capturing them, luring the cats, dogs, birds or any other thing that crossed his path. Sometimes he was quick with the animals, a snap of the neck, a stab to the heart or breaking a back with a kick. Others he would keep around for months on end… altering them, breaking bones then watching them mend in broken and messed up patterns, slowly flaying them, or in the case of birds buring off their feathers. Others he would dissect, sometimes alive other times when they were dead. When they were dead he would put them in pickle jars or if they were the pets of a family, he would make a meat pie with their dear pet added in and serve it to the family. He had always been told his pies were great by those familys, though they never knew they were eating Fido or Fluffy.

With the orc he was playing with the it didn't matter how many limbs or legiments he cut off, so long as the HP bars were not at zero they could be cut and would not die. Up till now he was wondering when he would start practicing on humans, he was sure that he wouldn't be caught, no one had up in his small town. But this WAO game had given him a wonderful opportunity, he could kill and kill, even other players and do whatever way he pleased. This would slate his bloodlust… at least for a while till he needed to cut something with his knife again.

/

November 6th, 12:58 PM

Rufus smiled to himself as he looked at his character… well himself to be honest. When he created his avatar he decided to opt out of the usual steps of character creation and go right into carbon copying himself. So there her stood, 6'3 foot tall and almost handsome, self. His hair was still the same light brown/rusty color, his eyes still the same shade of light blue and he still had his burnsides. He was dressed as an Imperial Militiaman from Middenland, he wore a pair of white colored pants, an blue shirt, a pair of leather boots and a grey feathered cap. He was armed with a cleaver and hammer as a pair of starter weapons, which was what he could buy in the limited tutorial. He chose Middenland as his starter faction, besides the fluff, because of the bonus to weapon skill and strength, which combined with an additional weapon made a good close combat warrior. Once he reached a shop he was going to buy a pistol and at least a decent set of armor to give him an extra bit of punch at distance and staying power. For his in game name he decided to go with something easy, easy because it was his real name and sounded like it belonged in the game. His gamer tag was now Adler.

He tapped his foot waiting down the moments in the field of battle title screen till he would be able to log into the game proper. For the pass day he had been playing the tutorial with the online mode and reading the manual, getting to understand the mechanics. He had scheduled a meeting with Steve once they were in the online starter area for the Empire, a town named Glumhoff. After that they were to be separated and sent to their respective city states, for Rufus that meant Middenheim and for Steve the capitol of the Empire, Altdorf. It was for fluff reasons why they were being separated after the initial meet up, Middenheim and Altdorf were separated by hundreds of miles and were different city states and sub factions. It was there that the players could start to make names for themselves without crowding a single area and hunting it clean.

That was another interesting aspect of the game, besides the initial faction selection and the racial stats that came with it, you start the game off with no class. You would start the game as the most basic warrior there was for the faction. In the case of Empire this was as a militia man. It was only at level five that you were able to start specializing and choose different paths for the character to take. For the Empire that meant one of several dozen different paths, the initial path was that of a member of the State Army where the player would raise in rank, from a trooper to becoming a sergeant, then a captain and all the way up to general or even possibly to an Empire Count controlling thousands of NPCs. The other paths included two different routes for followers of Sigmar, that of a witch hunter and warrior priest, battle wizards and for those who want to be skilled in crafting master engineers. Then there were even more options to a ridicules level.

As it stood right now he couldn't decide which class to go for an- the clock then hit 1 PM and he entered the game proper. In a flash of light he appeared alongside thousands of other players, surprised that the servers could handle all of these players without any lag. He then brought up a screen and selected friends, he had one in game so far and pinged Steve. A small ripple of blue light emanated from his body, that he could only see, after a moment of traveling the ripple stopped and he could see the white outline of a body, among the sea of other players. Rufus then started to make his way to the figure, with his weapons sheathed he pushed past the crowds. It indeed felt very real, he could feel the texture of the people's clothes, the touch of flesh as he pushed past them and of the smell of their bodies. There had to of been tens of thousands of players crammed into this space all playing the various factions of the Empire.

There seemed to be about and equal number of men and women and he had do a lot of 'apologizing' for trying to get past them, it was highly doubtful that most were actually female, but at least they felt real enough. After fighting through the hordes of players he eventually found Steve. He looked very different than when he last met him yesterday. He looked thirty years younger with the wrinkles and grey gone from his beard and hair, his hair was a consistent dark with a pair of brown eyes. He was dressed similarly to Rufus, but where Rufus wore blue and white his friend instead wore white and purple and he went cap less. Steve, who's gamer tag was now Stephan, waved to Rufus as he pushed his way to him." Hell of a party!"

"Yeah! Thing is it's going to take a few days till we'll be able to go on the first quest with all these players." Rufus told Steve." Yeah… hey did you get that special message yet?" Asked Steve, before he opened up his menu, looking for messages. Rufus did the same thing, but stopped mid-way through his reply." No not yet- wait." He scrolled down to the log out button and found that it had disappeared." Hey look at your main menu and check and see if your log out button is there." Steve exited out of his message and checked the main menu, finding the same button missing." Well that's odd… first day bug probably." Rufus nodded, closing his menu." Most likely…. Well any way, I think that game designer might be sending his message when he gets his quarter mil players logged in, which at this rate doesn't seem long, not just when they come in piece meal."

Steve thought about it, cupping his chin." Well to be honest it could be one of two things. He could give a big welcoming speech, tell us how proud he is that were playing his game and send us on our way. Or do all that and give us all a special item." He smirked." Maybe something to use when they come out with the 40K MMO." Rufus lifted his arms up and shouted." Refractor Fields for everyone!" A few of the other players in ear shot turned to him at the mention of the 40K item. He lowered his arms and smiled sheepishly." False alarm."

Steve then asked Rufus." Hey remember that bet we made yesterday?" Rufus turned to him and nodded. The day before when they played a 4,000 point fantasy game, the pair made a bet about WAO. If Rufus won the game with his dwarfs Steve would hand over any magic items that he found in the first week of playing WAO, while if Steve's empire had won Rufus would hand over 250 gold crowns when they met in game. The Empire were the winners the day before so Rufus had become a slightly poorer player. He opened up the trade menu and gave Steve the 250 gold crowns." Here you go. So what do you plan on doing when you get to Altdorf?"

But seemingly as soon as he finished speaking all the players in Glumhof, including himself, were transported out of the town in a mass of light. When the new citizens of the Empire arrived at their destination, they were not in any land of man, dwarf, elf or lizard. They were in the northern wastes and in front of them stood a gate not of this mortal realm. It stood a thousand feet tall and three hundred wide, its sides were bordered by towers made of bone and topped with gigantic skulls.

Over a hundred thousand players stood before the Chaos Gate and could see hell on the other side.

/

Roshi looked up at the gate and her jaw dropped at the awesome scale of it. Her brother had told her that WAO was going to an epic game, she didn't realize that he wasn't joking and over hyping the game. The scale of the gate was impressive, but what was on the other side was terrifying. Due to her size she wasn't able to see what was on the otherside like the humans or elves… and lizardmen could see. But she could look up high and see winged beasts and monsters on the otherside of the gate. The monsters were impossible to behold, their joints and size should of made it impossible for them to fly in the air.

From out of the gate a figure emerged, it bleed out like blood and into the world. The blood like thing collated taking a shape of a gigantic red cloaked figure. She wished that she could find her brother, to ask him what was going on and if this was part of the game. She didn't know where he was though, she did know he was a wood elf, but what he looked like she wasn't sure. Roshi didn't even know why she had been taken from the Dwarf starter area or what the gate was.

Then when the gigantic figure was fully formed it spoke." Greeting players. I am Akihiko Kayaba, the designer of this game." Roshi understood now, there was supposed to be a special even for the first 250,000 players and this was it." I have gathered the 'good' and 'evil' sides of the Warhammer World in the city of Altdorf and in front of the Chaos Gate. I wish for each of you, the players, to see the one objective that good and evil players must accomplish. For the good players the objective is to destroy the chaos gate and for the evil players they must destroy the grand temple of Sigmar."

Roshi could understand now why she was here, it was because she was being shown the games objective and gave a reason to play instead of mindless questing. Those hopes were dashed when Akihiko continued to speak." But there are things you must know. First is that players are no longer allowed to log out and leave the game." Roshi heard that and had to check her main menu, she was shocked that indeed the button she would use to log out was gone. She was not the only one to check her menu, thousands of other players did at the same time and started to shout and yell at Akihiko asking why this was happening. But he didn't listen and continued on." Furthermore I've set all the factions good and evil meters to neutral. It is up for the players themselves to decide what path they themselves will follow, good and evil is a choice for each player to make. But if the vast majority of players of one faction fall to one or other side of the spectrum, that faction is considered good or evil."

"Finally WAO is no longer just a game. If your HP is reduced to zero, or if someone tries to remove your Nerve Gear a microwave pulse will emanate from your Nerve Gear helmet frying you mind and killing you. If you die in game you will die in real life. Since WAO has launched 2046 players helmets have been removed and they have been deleted from the game and real life." To illustrate his point Akihiko showed 8 different news casts from across the world, each from a country that WAO was launched. Those being Russia, Germany, Japan, Canada, China, India, United States of America and the United Kingdom, the news casts broadcasting that a quarter million players could not exit their game and that if anyone interfered with the gamers they would die. That caused an absolute uproar from a hundred thousand throats, Roshi's own shout of hatred added to the roar. They had been tricked and now trapped in a game that may kill them. She was also shouting at her brother, cursing him for entering the damn raffle and winning both copies of WAO and the Nerve Gear! She didn't care if she was going against her family when she cursed him, this was beyond family honor and veered into life and death!

Akihiko continued to speak." In order to exit the game either the good faction or the evil faction must complete their objective, the faction that completes this objective wins the game and may leave." He then lifted up a gigantic hand bringing up his personal menu." I wish to give you all a parting gift, please look at your inventory and select the item." He pressed a button and Roshi had received a message that an item had been sent to her inventory. She took it out of her inventory and looked at the mirror." Now play as your true self." She and hundreds of thousands of players looked at themselves in their own personal mirrors. Across the chaos waste thousands of players looked at their faces and then transformed in a flash of light, when they looked at the mirror they saw themselves as they did in real life, young became old, male became female and beauty became beast. For the humans, genders and appearances became like they looked like in their real life. The elves and dwarfs changed into their original genders and their appearance became much like it was in the real world, though still with their racial traits intact. The ones least effective were the Lizardmen, the males kept the same bodies as they did before, the females had a more human body with breasts and a curvier body, both had hair that was similar to what they had in real life. This caused a sudden gender ratio change where at most 15 percent of the players were actually female.

Roshi looked at herself, she was still at around 4 feet tall and had the same body as her character. But her skin tone had changed to her dark brown color, her hair had become raven black still done up in a pair of long braids, her eyes had changed to her wide pair of pretty brown eyes. Her face also changed back to her real life structure and it was a cute angular face at that.

As she lowered her mirror Akihiko spoke yet again." Now go and fight for survival in WAO!"

/

Jacob felt the sensation of falling and saw the sight of the dome of the Grand Temple of Sigmar disappear and replaced with the sky. He was swallowed by darkness and felt, heard, saw and smelled nothing. There was nothingness except his own mind. For what seemed like an eternity, though only a few seconds passed, he laid suspended in air. Then light filled his eyes and he returned to the world. He was standing in a snow drift up to his knees, he felt the cold against his scrawny chest and the wetness of melting snow against his knees. For a moment he thought he was back in Canada, but he still could feel the axe haft in between his buckle and pants. He looked around and saw that there were 6 other gamers around him, each was a chaos player. He could tell because of the amulets of the 8 pointed star on two of the players, and an additional mark on each player describing the god they served.

One of them spoke, an obese man in his late twenties, who wore a female starter set of clothes, which because of him choosing to follow Slaneesh, the god of pleasure, was much skimpier than necessary and nightmare fuel inducing with its current wearer." What the hell is wrong with that GM!" Jacob had an idea what was Kayaba's plan master plan was, but he kept it to himself, listening to the other players ideas as to what was happening." He's crazy, he has no right to do this, were people not some NPC!" The Nurgle player said, his voice slightly altered by phlegm in his throat." What about our bodies, we'll die in the real world even if we don't complete our quest because we'll starve." The Tzeencht player spoke up, he wore a set of blue and yellow robes, slightly better prepared for the cold than the other members of the group." Kayaba must of sent a message out to the news stations and governments. If he didn't his plan would be ruined because no one would look after us."

Jacob turned to that player, it was surprisingly a Khorne player, his chest carved with a glowing red skull icon of the chaos god against his red skin. He was surprised that the player had an actual answer than rather asking a question, he was also playing against type since in the manual the followers of Khorne usually were more about collecting skulls than thinking. Jacob spoke." That's a good idea... why don't you tell us your name?" If he was to survive this game and make it to the real world it meant he needed to make allies… if only temporary, so he had to put on a welcoming face." Gerry, but the gamer tag is Gestalt, yours?" Jacob smiled, his digital lips were non-threatening to the Khorne player." Names Krutz, I also have an idea getting out of the game."

The players turned to Jacob, the Slaneesh follower was the first to speak." Eh what's that?" Jacob pointed to the south, or what he thought was the south and said." We destroy the Grand Temple of Sigmar… the GTS." The slaanesh player snorted." Why do that? We can go north and destroy the Chaos Gate, it would be easier than going thousands of miles to the south fighting characters belonging to the other factions." Several players nodded at the gamers idea, except for the Khorne players who watched Jacob and the slaaneshie. Jacob continued." That may work. But you see there is a problem with your idea." The fat player raised an eyebrow." And that is?"

Now Jacob started to smile like a predator when it knew its prey was cornered." We're all set to neutral, the factions you see. This game has a karma meter for each player, this changes depending on what quests you take. Up in here in the wastes these quests would probably be much more inclined to 'evil' acts. Go ahead and read your menu if you don't believe me." The slaaneshie player then did just that, opening up the game menu." What am I looking for?" He asked, looking up for a moment at Jacob." Chaos Wastes." Jacob said and as the player searched his menu, Jacob took out his axe.

"It says that there is eternal war in the north, with the various tribes of chaos worshipers battling each other to please the gods, that the various tribes only unite when a true champion of chaos appears to bring them under one banner. How does that help us?" Jacob smirked from ear to ear, his teeth like rows of polished daggers." We are freed when kill all those in our way, from the South… or the North." He then raised his axe up, the player didn't know what was happening and wasn't able to log out of his menu in time. Jacob struck, his axe coming down in an arc that sliced the players right hand off, artileral blood spraying from the stump." What the fuc-!" The players shout was cut off when Jacob cut upwards at the player's knee, slicing it off at the joint and causing him to collapse. The player managed to exit out of his screen, his health bar near zero after the vicious attack and tried to reach for his weapon, his face red with fear. But before he could draw his war pick Jacob delivered the final blow to the players neck, decapitating the player, killing him. His body began to dissipate, turning to blue diamonds, leaving behind a single bag.

The other five players had their starter weapons out, their faces were a mix of fear, hatred and questioning, except for Gerry who looked at him with a cold appraisal. Jacob had committed the act of murder, real murder not a simple player killing like in other games, when this player died in the game he died in real life. The Nurgle follower broke the silence with his phlegmy voice." Why did you kill him?" The question would sting a man of more heat than Jacob, but he had no heart." Look at my stats, do you see that my karma meter falling into corruption?" The players did so, looking up above Jacobs helmeted head. They could see that his karma meter had appeared and went down slightly, a brief glimpse of a fiery bar and a _+10 Corruption_ floated over him." Right now there are hundreds of players looking at their karma meters and thinking the same thing. I must become good or evil in order to survive this game and return home. If we don't band together and start acting the way we were meant to play, as marauders and worshipers of the dark gods, we will be overrun by 'good do'ers' and never be able to leave the game."

"So what do we do? Kill each other off till there's only one truly corrupted warrior left?" Asked the Tzeenchtian. Jacob could see that in their faces gears were turning in the players head. Gestalt sheathed his axe." No. He wants us to be united under one player and destroy the GTS. If we don't then we will be killed off." He then asked Jacob a question directly as the other players lowered their weapons." What do you want the name of our guild to be?"

At that moment there was another murder committed, not a player kill, not another murder of blood and guts. It was a gift to the gods, the murder of his soul. For Khorne was pleased with the blood spilt, Slaanesh was in escasty for the pleasure he felt, Nurgle revealed in joy at the rot in his soul and Tzeencht simply smiled at the change that had occurred and was beginning to see opportunity's open for this chaos warrior.. Krutz spoke firmly and full of malice." The Third Wave."

/

**A/N: So what do you folks think? Ask questions please, I will try to answer them to the best of my ability and you also might help me correct mistakes, or keep me from getting full of myself. **


	2. Mad Times on Middenheim High

**A/N: See first chapter for disclaimer. A note on the monetary system in game. A single gold crowns is worth four silver coins while a single silver is worth twenty five copper coins. 3-5 coppers can buy you black bread or piss poor beer, a silver can buy you a lantern while a single gold crown will purchase a steel melee weapon. Of course this varies from place to place like in Middenheim were gun powder weapons are rare firearms are more expensive while armor or melee weapons are much cheaper.**

**I would like to say that there is offensive material to certain groups in this fic. Nothing racial or sexually bias, but some political stuff. I ask that you enjoy this fan fic as a work of fantasy and if your going to hate it because of the politics involved please do get into any arguments with the reviews because you will lose. There is an old Japanese quote, though I do not remember the author who spoke it, I want you to know." I never get into fights involving words, because even if I win I will not be able to change the other person's opinion'. **

**Also I would like to address my reviewers.**

**Krikanalo: Thanks for the review, though I won't be taking on your suggestion, save for when there is singing.**

**Czwisler777: I hope that I can fill you in on details through the story, my weak point is SAO while I know a lot of fluff on the Warhammer Fantasy side so I will be throwing in stuff and describing it to the best of my ability's. **

**MadFrog2000: Thank you for your review, as I said in the first chapter I can't guarantee that all the characters will make an appearance from SAO. But rest assured when they do make appearances you will know, or at least feel their impact. **

**G and E: Who ever said the good guys had to good all the time, especially when you have a class of witch hunters?**

**Jouaint: So I will attempt to!**

**Hagen: I never played WAR, but I will try to write about the champions of chaos as best I can. And about the second part of your review, that can be chalked up to being raised on Harry Turtledove and Eric Flint books, since it takes more than one perspective to tell an epic story in my book… figural speaking of course.**

**Mr I hate znt nobles: That's what happens when you base a faction off of some actual Sumerian deity's.**

**Hagstang: That will be revealed later on.**

/

_Middenheim-City of the White Wolf_

It had been barely ten minutes since Rufus and a quarter million players had returned to their home factions, for Rufus and 12,322 other players that meant their sub-faction of the Empire, the Grand Duchy of Middenland. The land of Middenland made up one of five starter locations for Empire players, the others being Averheim to the east, Marienburg to the south west, Altdorf and Nuln to the south. The Grand Duchy's capitol was the city of Middenheim, here sat Count Boris Todbringer of Middenland with the High Priest Ar-Ulric, who claimed the electorship of the city. The countryside of Middenland is characterized by miles and miles of unbroken forests and in the northern half of the state, such as in the mountains, biting cold and near year round snow cover. Within the forests the men of the Empire have managed to carve out hundreds of tiny villages or even the occasional town, usually along the Great North or Old Forest road. The men who traveled any deeper into the forest would be brave or incredibly stupid since they would face beastmen attacks… or other dangers.

Like the rest of the Empire this is a polytheistic state that worship the Gods of Men, but unlike the other states of the Empire that favor Sigmar more, in Middenland the god most worshiped is Ulric The War God and White Wolf of Winter. Given the hardy nature of Middenland's inhabitants and threats by the enemies of Empire it was no surprised that this was their favored god. Where the god called his home was the city of Middenheim where a cold fire burnt for the past two and a half thousand years since Middenheim was built. The city sat on top of a mile and half long plateau a mile in the sky, it was a condensed and packed city with the Temple of Ulric and the Counts palace dominating the skyline. Its many streets were narrow and dingy with the buildings being white washed to give the appearance of a glittering city from a distance. But it was never that, even in the places where civilization flourished there was always decay, decadence and 12 meals away from having a city of over 50,00 turn to total anarchy.

As it turned out in ten minutes time it was turning into total confusion with the city flooded by angry players. As soon as he realized that he was still alive and was surrounded by players, Rufus ran from them into an ally way. He couldn't trust anyone just yet, especially if they found out that he had more money than most players were going to make in a week, he couldn't die by other players hands in his home city but he could be beaten up and robbed. He rested against the wall of the building and opened up his menu, then selected the private messaging option and selected to send a PM to his friend Steve.' _Hey buddy, I'm alive. I'll try and figure out what's going to happen where I'm at, I'll contact you in an hour_.' He sent the message and then brought up a map of his current location.

He was thankful that Middenheim was the starter city for Middenlanders and not some random provincial town. He had been playing Warhammer for long enough that he had partially remembered the fluff maps, maybe not the exact names of places but their general location and relation to each other. He saw that he was in the southern part of the city, via a large sign on a leading out of the city gate, the Southgate-Ostwald District. Though the other areas of the city were clouded over since he hadn't explored or entered them yet, he remembered that to the north laid the merchant district and the east was the dwarf district. If he went to either he was sure that there would be a NPC shop and he could get some excellent equipment for his level.

But he couldn't just yet since other players would see him with the better equipment and gang up on him for the gold. He needed to make himself useful to other players first, level up and find out if his faction would go good or evil. For a brief moment he wondered what that meant, to be good or evil in the game where Player Killing was possible. If he killed a player in cold blood would that make him evil, or if he killed a player who was attacking him was that a good thing? Then again this was the warhammer world where even the good guys were at best neutral. Did that mean the quests had options in them where you made a decision, like between giving money to an orphanage or burning it down?

Akihiko also said that each faction was now neutral, so that meant all the factions could interact with each other until they fell to one end of the spectrum the other wasn't. This meant that they could work together… but it was going to be difficult to say the least. It was human nature that people would find differences between each other and fight it out. Rufus didn't know if the players could look beyond their avatars and remember that they were all human, especially with their lives on the line.

For Rufus it took a beep from his message box to bring him out of his thoughts, he opened it and read the message from Steve, his avatar now looking as he did in real life.' _I'm still alive. Find a guild and stick with them, I'll do the same. Steve out._' Rufus closed the box and looked up, hardly two minutes had passed since he had arrived in the city and already he could hear arguments breaking out across the city as players bickered about what had happen.

Rufus wanted no part of that, arguments in the real world would get heated and come to blows, while on the internet things were much more explosive and given that this was an internet game where people could more easily kill each other than normal, or knock them out in the city…. He then began walking to the south gate, he needed to get out of the city and start fighting some monsters to start leveling up. He'd come back in a few days when things sorted themselves out in the city….

He rested the palm of his hand against his forehead. 'Dammit I need to think of a game plan, I can't jump around with ideas, not now. Alright now what are my options? I can head outside of the city gates with no one, fight monsters and otherwise be at greater risk of dying. I can stay here and join in one of the groups then fight against the other players… possibly becoming an orange player in the process which is something I don't want to become. Or...' He thought the third option out, he could stay in the city a while longer and get the extra supply's that would make his life much easier once he made it outside of the city, all in his inventory till he got out of the city. After that it was living from minute to minute.

He then walked out of the alley way and started to make his way north.

/

After five minutes of walking at a rushed pace, pushing through player groups and just trying to not start a fight, Rufus finally reached the merchant district. He looked at his mini-map and saw that there was a general store nearby, the problem being he didn't want to be seen entering it just yet. Outside of the shop was a group of half a dozen players, a pair of players looking down the road to the left and right while another stood by the door armed with a bow and in a dress despite being a male, the other three players were talking with one another. Rufus understood that these players had the idea that if someone was going to be shopping right now when the game started that the player must have been a dumb sod who bought a collector's edition. Just like him.

Walking up to the door and saying.' Hey can I take a look at what the shop has? It's for when I get some money after killing monsters.' They would more than likely shake him down right there. Fighting them head on was suicidal, even with all of them at level one they would gang up on him. So that meant an element of stealth was required. He walked away, down the street and turned left at a side alley, then left again down a narrow. He passed by merchant houses and reached the back entrance of the shop. Apparently tropes about there always being a back door was applied to this game as well. He then reached out and opened the door. It creaked loudly. Rufus cursed himself for not remembering that when being sneaky in game doors either open silently or loud enough to alert the guards." What was that?" One of the guards spoke, he or one of his comrades moved and was running around the corner.

Rufus got inside as quick as he could and used a chair to bar the back door. Then he ran to the front of the shop and saw that the NPC had a bar on his door frame." Guys the back door is locked, someone is-" As the voice spoke Rufus slammed the bar down locking the shop up tight so no one could get in, but loud enough to confirm to the other players that he was in the shop." A collector's inside!" One of the players shouted. Rufus didn't listen, instead he turned to the NPC shop keeper." Show me your wears."

"Yes sir anything you're looking for in particular?" There wasn't a screen that showed the prices and what items were for sale. Rufus was taken aback by that, he was much more used to a solo style of play… but then again it wasn't Virtual Reality when he played the other games." Uh weapons." The NPC then pointed to a rack full of weapons. Rufus then looked at the weapons, when his eyes fell onto them a screen appeared showing the stats to each weapon. After giving it a moment to decide he selected four steel Wheelock pistols with a hundred rounds of ammo with a duel holster, a blunderbuss with twenty, a single handed steel hammer and sword all for 18 gold crowns. From outside the door he heard a shout." Hey if anyone wants lots of gold then join my guild!" Then Rufus selected an steel chainmail shirt, a leather buff coat and a pair of high quality leather trousers for armor for an additional 5 crowns, three silvers and 10 coppers. He wanted to get more but he was at his whight limit and had to sell his beginner weapons.

As he finished the second purchase he could hear players hitting at the door with a battering ram… or a players head, which ever was more convenient. Rufus couldn't go out the way he had come in, he was sure that players were now behind the shop to cut off his escape. He might just escape if he ran out guns blazing, but even if he could use his guns properly against fellow players with being such at a low skill he wouldn't be able to stop them all, he was trapped like a rat….

In a moment of insight Rufus remembered another predominate feature of Middenheim, the undercity!" Do you have a basement?" He asked the NPC, who nodded." Yes but why do you need to go down there?" Rufus praised Sigmar." If you have a way into the undercity through your basement I need to get there now!" The shopkeeper raised his hands and said." No I can't do that its against the law to-" Rufus then spoke again." I'll give you fifty crowns if you unlock the way to the undercity." Rufus said hurriedly. The NPC face lighten up and held out a hand for the money, Rufus transferred it to him. As the door began to splinter the shopkeeper lead him through a trap door in the storage room into the basement. The NPC then moved a crate in the basement to reveal a doorway, he then unlocked it with a key." Here you go stranger, now have a- Intruders!" The shopkeeper shouted when his programming realized that someone had broken into his shop.

Rufus took that as his cue to make himself scares and opened the door, entering the undercity.

/

Rufus ran in the dark of the undercity, his menu open as he started to equip himself. His appearance changed as he did so, his chest was covered in the iron chainmail, which in turn was covered by the buff coat which in turn covered his body down to his knees. He then equipped the double holsters and put two pistols in them, he then equipped the blunderbuss for his primary weapon. There would be a delay when he equipped the melee weapons from his inventory since they weren't primary or secondary's, but if he could reduce the players HP enough with a few shots they might back off and he could lose them in the tunnels.

He stopped running, he realized that there were more than just players in the undercity, there were monsters as well. With his menu down Rufus was blind in the darkness as he would be in real life without any natural light. He then began to walk down the catacombs, his ears listening to any noise human or otherwise. He advanced down the tunnel placing one foot in front of the other and not causing more sound then he needed. Though what he did need was a torch to see his way through the damn darkness!

After a few minutes of walking his prays were seemingly answered when he spotted a light at the end of the tunnel… and he hadn't died yet! He turned the corner to the light, but as soon as he did he turned back around the corner his back against the wall. His pray had been answered by the devil, or Ranald the trickster depending on who go to it first. Around the corner was a nest of mutants, rotted planking's gutted out of the nest into the sewer acting as a landing for a makeshift raft. Rufus peered around the corner and saw the nest was rather small, there was an open lean-to that had a trio of bed rolls, there were three mutants in various stages of disfigurement from an extra eye to and extra ligaments, they were moving crates around acting as laborers for their boss. The lead mutant was the most deformed with two heads that were talking to… not a mutant. This person was dressed in bright greenish yellow robes, wore a turban and had a holstered pistol at his waist. It took a moment for him to remember, since it had been years since he had last opened the Mordheim book, but he recognized the Carnival Master.

The Carnival Master was a character from an expansion to the skirmish game Mordheim, he was a low level sorcerer of nurgle and the leader of the Carnival of Chaos. The Carnival traveled the old world, arriving in a small village or hamlet in the morning and setting up a show for the locals to gather around. The locals would enjoy the carnival as any other not knowing they were lured into a trap. At sundown the glamour that hid the true appearance of the carnies would disappear, reveling them as plague ridden mutants or diseased deamons. The slaughter that would follow would be brutal and torturous with the victims becoming part of the carnival games they were playing the day before. In the morning they would leave to travel to the next town to repeat the Carnival again.

Rufus cursed himself for a fool, there was a reason why the undercity was sealed off in game, there were higher level monsters in the tunnels below. He looked at the mutants and saw their levels and health bars, the mutant laborers were at level 3 and the two headed mutant was at level 5, the only one not to have a health bar was the Carnival Master. The latter confused him, before he could think on what that meant, he could hear the foot falls of the players running after him. Now he was truly trapped, he had a bunch of higher level mutants in front of him while behind he had an unknown number of robbers behind, if he went either way he would be dead.

Rufus remembered an old, old meme and the story behind it. He smiled to himself with the insane plan and hoped he didn't get team killed along with the rest of the players." There he is!" Rufus heard one of the wannabe robbers shout, they could see him in the light of the torches before he could see them. They came on into the light, running and with weapons out. Rufus gave a smirk and turned the corner, he ran into the nest shouting." LEEEEERRRRRROOOOOYYYYYY JJJJJEEEEENNNNNKKKKIIIINSSSAAAAGGGHHH!" The mutants then turned their attention to him, the Master disappearing into a tide of green insects. Before the mutants charged at Rufus they were confronted by a tide of players. The lead player was half way into the room and when he realized what was about to happen he shouted, trying to push back against his peers." Oh Shit!" But it was too late, the NPC AI had categorized the most dangerous threat from a lone well-armed player to a dozen not so well armed guild members.

The mutant laborers dropped their crates, which smashed against the floor and were the first into the fray. Though unarmed they did possess great strength, they wailed on the humans. The players defended themselves, but because of the high strength of the mutant's attacks and narrow confines of the tunnel their attacks were able to get partially through, draining their health. Three of the players died before the others were able to one of the mutants into the red health bar, but when that happened the mid-boss stepped forward and started to help its underlings. In a matter of moments five more players died, getting the mid-boss down to half health, because of a player hanging back and putting arrow after arrow into the mutants. It seemed that the newly formed guild, built in a matter of seconds to rob just one man, was going to die out, till a savoir announced himself with a thunderous roar. Or to be more accurate when Rufus decided that this was a perfect opportunity to earn some XP and save some foolish lives, he fired his blunderbuss at the tightly packed group of mutants.

Due to the weapon being at a higher ranged skill than he was at, the shot consumed a quarter of Rufus's AP bar, but its effects were devastating at the close range. Two of the mutants who were in the red died instantly in a shower of blood, while the remaining laborer and the boss were reduced to the red bar of health. The lesser mutant continued to fight the robber guild while the mid-boss turned its attention to Rufus. The twin heads roared, the bosses rusty axe and sword were being raised up high as it prepared to charge Rufus.

When the mutant came charging at him, Adler slung the blunderbuss over his shoulder and drew his pistols. He would have one chance at doing this and needed to make it count, without the aim assist he aimed the pistols at the heads of the mutant and when he was right a yard from him, he fired. Both bullets found their mark and the heads of the boss exploded in gore and digital brain matter. As with the blunderbuss shot the twin shots drained a lot of his AP, reducing him to a quarter of his bar. But with the killing of the three higher level enemies Rufus was able to use that experience to level up almost half way too level three. As the remaining mutant was finished off by the four players, Rufus was able to get into his menu and quickly update his stats. He added two skill points to his ranged and two hand weapons attribute, while he noticed that he had gained a plus one to his ranged because of the skill he showed against the mutants.

He exited the menu and started to reload the twin wheel locks, there may have been a lot less robbers than there had been a few moments ago, but still there were four potential killers. He moved back towards the landing as the remaining players finished the laborer mutant. He used his menu to equip the pair of steel weapons which replaced his blunderbuss. The players turned their attention to him, walking into the nest after finishing the mutant." Not a step closer." Rufus ordered them. They didn't move closer, in fact they looked at him with a mix of fear, and from the single militia man armed with a bow, respect." .… That was interesting." Said the militia bowman.

Rufus noticed that he was the same one that had guarded the door, now he look at more details seeing as that they were not trying to kill each other right now. The man was in his mid-twenties, younger than him, he was of average height and build and had his hair black mid length to his neck. The dress he wore was a blue and white affair and was thankfully decent to cover his entire body. Rufus shuddered to think about what Poofy was wearing right now.

"That it was… how many of you were in front of the shop besides bowman here?" The other players shook there heads, one speaking, the youngest who looked about 15." We heard one guy said there was gold for us if we joined his guild and hunted you down." Rufus heard the boy… then felt a pang of guilt. He had just lead 8 men to their deaths, men who signed up to play a game and have fun in VRMMO, not some death game. He wondered if any of the men who died were just as young as the boy, or god forbid even younger and what their families must be going through at losing a son or a brother or a-

He blocked those thoughts out of his mind, these very sane men were willing to rob and kill him just a few moments earlier. If they attacked now, despite his higher level and fresh pistols, they would be able to kill him and he might be able to return the favor once because his MP was so low. He had to make it clear that he didn't want any more death." Now then gents this can go either one of two ways, you can rush me and I'll kill one of you at least. You can walk away with you tails between your legs. Or I can make you an offer."

Bowman spoke, un-knocking an arrow." What's your offer?" He asked. Rufus holstered his pistols before speaking." You formed a guild to hunt me down, but I want to offer you something a bit more profitable. I want to form a new guild, this time though-." He couldn't say that it would be just for monster slaying or for friendship purposes, he needed a real reason to do this besides his own skin. Of course money always found a way to make itself known." This time though the guild will be you, me and people who will pay us to be their bodyguards. After all I'm not the only one to of bought the collector's edition. Wouldn't you like to bleed a person dry over a few days then this…." He waved his arm around the remains of the mutants and slowly disintegrating dead players to demonstrate his point.

If they said no to his offer Rufus was going to be damn sure he shot bowman first, that might give him a few moments more of life. With an internal sigh of relief after a moment of silence the bowman spoke." Alright then." He then opened up his menu and left his previous guild, one by one the other three players did the same. Rufus then opened up his menu and had the guild set up, then sent an invite to each player in front of him." So your name is Adler." Bowman spoke looking at the invitation." Yes." Rufus spoke with a half-smile, he supposed that he should start using the name instead of his first. Given his real world appearance and name he was already half way there to be being mistaken as an NPC, which might actually come in handy later if he was planning on blending in with the city. The Bowman shook his head with indifference and accepted the invite to the guild.

Adler chuckled when he saw the name of the player." I don't think Grace really matches your appearance." As the other players accepted their own invites, the bowman rolled his eyes." Call me Jack. What about the loot?" He pointed to the remains of the mutants, Adler saw it then he thought it over as to why the Carnival Master was there before speaking." Your first pay day, any money or items are yours to keep, that includes any other items you find in the boxes. I saw two heads talking to another NPC, so there might be some quest items for later on, hand them over to me." Jack nodded at that, finding it fair considering that he had tried robbing the man only a few minutes ago, even though he almost had him killed with that Jenkins shit.

As the players started to search the nest, Adler re-organized his equipment. He switched a few things around so that his first choice of weapon was the blunderbuss which he reloaded before putting it away, secondly he equipped the pair of steel melee weapons as his second set of weaponry. He then noticed that he had an extra pair of pants, his original pair that had been replaced by the leggings." Hey Jack, open up your trade menu." The player turned to him," Eh?" Rufus held up his old pair of pants." Something less drafty." That got a smile from one of the other players and Jacks face showed amusement at the gesture. He then took the item and equipped it, his dress disappearing as he equipped the pants, then a tattered shirt from one of the mutants. The other players who died didn't have their clothes left behind when they died so the pants were welcomed.

Adler searched the mutant leader's remains, besides a few coins and rusty weapons, which he left for the other players, he found a scroll. Adler looked it over, the parchment was partially rotten but he didn't open it and put it into his inventory. He would look it over later when things had quieted down in the city above and when he was at a higher level than he was now, since it looked like a quest item. After a few minutes of waiting for the other players to loot the area Adler called out to them." Alright! Let's wrap it up and head top side."

One of the players questioned, a Russian teen by the name of Palov." What about our guild name, what does PPS stand for?" Rufus looked at him and spoke, his blunderbuss over his shoulder." Player Protection Service." He then lead the way out of the catacombs.

/

_Middenheim- On the edge of the Merchant and Westgate-Sudgarten districts _

Jawaharlal looked around desperately for a street that had a vendor which didn't have a player or two on it. He wanted to get more equipment before he traveled into the wilderness beyond the walls of Middenheim. Practically to find some clothes that didn't make him look like a drag queen. He could afford the new clothes, just a simple pair of pants and shirt was all he needed and not this blue and white corset with skirt combo. He just couldn't get to a shop because of if he flaunted the fact he had gold crowns to spend then people would rob him. Back home in India he had seen friends at his boarding school who went out at night dressed in their finest flushed with cash thinking they would make an impression at a local whore house, but instead would be beaten up halfway back and robbed. He thought the advice his father had given him when he went to the boarding school was funny at first, 'keep your dick in your pants my son, because if you pull it out in the wrong place your pockets will be pulled out as well' his father had said, but it proved true.

Jawaharlal couldn't believe that less than an hour ago he was in balmy New Deli, one of the grandsons of the Prime Minister living in the lap of luxury of being an upper caste member. He had received his copy of WAO last night, he wasn't so much interested in the Old World that the VRMMO was set in so much as what it promised. It promised him an escape from the life of being 'proper', not making mistakes to save his family shame and having his life publicized as being a part of a famous family. Of course if he was going to experience this new world he would do so in style, in this case he had his father buy him the collector's edition. The extra crowns he would get from owning said edition would of made his life so much easier in WAO, that was till Kayaba screwed a quarter million players over.

Up to the announcement things were going good for him. During the short time in the tutorial his avatar was that of a pretty, busty, red headed Irish woman, with which he first experienced the games senses of sight, smell, taste, hearing and with great joy, touch. When he had been summoned to the far north he had expected to get a welcoming speech, then sent of his merry way of exploring, raiding and otherwise having a good time. But that idea was shattered much like his avatar was when he learned that he could not log out of the game and that if he died in game he died in real life. His appearance changed back to what he truly looked like, a short, chubby, dusty skinned, 16 year old.

So now he was wondering the streets of Middenheim trying to find his way to a clothes vendor without being beaten up and robbed of all his money. He could make for a town outside of Middenheim, but that would put him at greater danger of being killed by a player or a mob and he was armed with only a sword, so his chances of surviving were nil. That was till he heard the strangest song he had ever heard in his life. It was accompanied by the banging of a drum.

"_Oi if your fat or old, and you gots the gold!"_ A single voice rang out followed by a booming chorus._" Then say yes, to the PPS!"_ They alternated between voices.

" _If you wants to live, you gotta give!" _

"_Then say yes, to the PPS!"_

"_If you're a collector, and need a protector!" _

"_Then say yes, to the PPS!"_

Jawaharlal realized it wasn't an actual song, it was a call out to those who bought the collectors edition. They were saying that they provided protection to the collectors. He then ran down streets and side streets following the sound of their badly sung lyrics looking for this group. It didn't take long to of running down side streets and finally a main street to do so. When he finally saw them he didn't know whether to laugh, run away or just join them. At their front rank was a group of four individuals, one was banging a drum, another was singing out each barely rhyming verse. The two he was most interested in was a man armed with a blunderbuss and the most heavily armored of the group, he wore a blue cap with a bright yellow feather through it, Jawaharlal knew this was their leader just the way he walked and how kept his icy blue eyes moving back and forth across the street, looking for any threats. The last one to catch his interest, but the one who held it the most was the banner man, it wasn't the person holding the banner up so much what it said. On a series of three shields held up by a pole it was written.

**First Shield-**

**Player Protection Services: 100 gold to join if collector, plus 50 gold upkeep each day. **

**Second Shield-**

**Guards wanted, pays 5 gold a day at sundown, plus loot.**

**Third Shield-**

**You try to rob us, you're a dead man. **

The last message was quite blunt but when he looked at who was in the guild he could believe that they backed it up. Each of the men and two women that made up the guild of 50 plus guild was armed and armored to their weight limit. From person to person their armor and weapons didn't match, but it was of steel. There were a mix of halberdiers, swordsmen, gunmen, spearmen in fact all the weapons and some armor you could but in the starter zone was represented in the guild.' They must give some starter gold to the guards.' Jawaharlal thought. They were almost ridicules, especially with the singing

He mulled over the thought of joining them for a moment, the price of entry into the guild was steep… but the fact that he would get some protection was enough to make up his mind. He walked forward and waved at them." Hey!" The leader directed his stare at Jawaharlal and he could see the name of the player by his health bar.' Adler' was his name and he looked almost like an NPC, with his burnsides which was truly out of place in this day and age, especially considering that he wasn't even thirty." What?" He asked, he was clearly an American by his accent." I'm a collector, I want to join." The leader then held out a hand, still walking with his group." 100 gold crowns, now." Jawaharlal then opened his menu to select the hundred gold, then he put it into his hand and gave it to Adler. As soon as the leader pocketed the hundred he sent an invite to Jawaharlal, who accepted it quickly. Adler looked at the younger man and asked." What is your real name Molly?"

"Jawaharlal." He replied, now embarrassed at the choice of name. Adler smirked and gave a short laugh." Your nickname is Jawa." As soon as he spoke a few players in the guild gave low chuckles at the joke name." Join in with the others." He then turned away from Jawa and had his attention focused on straight ahead, always on the lookout.

/

_Middenheim- Westgate-Sudgarten district_

As the boy joined in with the rest of guild, Adler kept on walking through the district to the Westgate, his eyes avoiding the stares of other players who didn't belong to his guild. He had started this guild in the merchant district with only five members, but as he spiraled out that district counter clockwise he had gained more members. Most of the 58 member guild were guards, hired on by the promise of a good pay day, but 22 of them were collectors looking for protection against would be robbers. So far the sight of an extremely well-armed and armored guild scared away most of these players, then add to that the banner they had made and drum they had bought it almost looked like a real Warhammer Regiment.

"So what's the plan now?" Asked Jack, who was now wearing an iron breastplate and helmet instead of the ragged mutant shirt, his bow was gone as well replaced with an oak crossbow." I think we rounded up most of the collectors in this city and if we stay here any longer players will realize that were actually a fairly small guild." Jack had also become the sub leader of the PPS and for two good reasons, he had revealed to Adler that he was Beta Tester, one of the 10,000 players who managed to play the game up to last month. He had originally played as an wood elf, but decided that he wanted to try something new that would give him a challenge when he played the actual game, so he choose a human Middenheimer. He admitted that now that this was a game where he could die this change in race wasn't such a good idea.

The second reason was that Jack could think on his own accord and may have been the better leader choice for the guild. But as it was there was no changing the structure of the guild for a few days yet." I'm aiming to get the guild out of this city, the Westgate is down this road and once we get there we'll be going into the forests to start leveling up." Adler's plan sounded simple, but there was a lot left out of it." We should get a little better organized, as it stands right now were just a horde of mercs and collectors… who also been yelling at the top of our lungs that were just that." Jack was right about that as well, they were all at the same level, expect for Adler because of that short jaunt into the undercity. It still stung him that in the past hour he had lost over 400 gold crowns because of the costs of equipping the guild, paying the damages to the NPC shop owner and then bribing the guards to look the other way after going into the undercity. They held an edge over the other players who were not part of the PPS, but that wouldn't last long if they were over whelmed by numbers.

"Alright give me a moment to think this over." Adler spoke. He thought about how to better organize his guild and not a second later he remembered the table top wargame this was based off of." I want you to start dividing up the players. Players with muskets, blunderbusses and crossbows, that includes us, make up a Detachment… call it Detachment A. Detachment B with be pistol armed and Detachment C will be melee. If we need to have one Detachment to take on task call it forward." Jack nodded as he heard Adler speak." That sounds like what we did when we eventually had units to command, one guy was a general and started directing us when we fought against other the other races." Jack told Adler, who responded with." I've been doing that for years ever since I started playing Warhammer, thing is I was never this low on the totem pole command wise except for a game of Mordheim."

"And how did that work out?" Jack asked him." I got my entire warband killed." He told Jack, who had a look of concern come over his face. Adler then turned to Jack and smirked." Well at least my new warband isn't a bunch of plastic headed idiots with bad dice rolls!" Jack then spoke deadpan." I am greatly concern if you start comparing us to cheap plastic toys." Adler gave a face of mock anger." They're not cheap! Seriously crack is cheaper than my hobby." Then his face darkened." But I never thought it would be the death of me." He then sighed." Do what you have to do Jack." Jack looked at the guild master a moment more and then joined the rest of his gold seeking comrades, as he did so he could hear Adler shout." Stop singing and banging that drum, we have enough headaches to worry about!" The guild then fell silent at their masters orders, a few smiles here and there from the attempt at humor.

As they continued to near the Westgate, Jack organized the guild into some semblance of order. He put Palov in charge of Detachment C, the halberd armed teen as ready as ever to get into melee, which was also the largest Detachment with 32 players in it. Detachment B was the smallest with ten members in it, but they all had a brace of pistols so they could put out a large volume of fire, he had a collector by the name of Okime in charge of the detachment. While he himself formed Detachment A. Jack didn't know how well they would hold once they were out in the field, but that remained to be tested once they were out of the city.

As fate would have it the PPS didn't need to leave Middenheim to be tested, but rather the test was to just get out of the city.

"Uh boss." The banner bearer spoke, drawing Adlers attention to him." What?" He asked. He then followed the banner bearers hand as it pointed to the gate ahead. Adler mentally cursed the sight in front of him. In front of the gate house a few hundred yards ahead was a large gathering of players, over a hundred of them. If they were all heading out of the gate to start hunting then Adler wouldn't have a problem with that. But they were standing in front of the gate and facing down the street his guild was, their weapons out." Jack!" He called to his lieutenant, who ran up and saw the very same sight as Adler did.

" Fuck… we can't go out that way." Jack spoke, then added a moment later." There should be more of them. If they got that many people together, there should be more." Adler then spoke slowing his guilds speed to a crawl." Divide and conquer, they're at the other gates. If we go out any other gate we will be going up against another group as well… that is if they haven't already messaged the others to hurry up and trap us." Jack looked behind at the guild and the street beyond, terrified by the prospect of having to go up against possibly 300 players." What do you think we should do?" Jack asked.

Adler thought, 'something incredibly dangerous and insane enough it might just work.'

"It's not me that can answer that question." Adler then turned his head to the side to look at his guild, he saw fear, concern and even the darting of eyes to find a way of escape. At times like this, when hope was waning in the stories about the Empire an officer or even soldier would come forward and give a stirring speech to rally or inspire his men. When he saw none come forward he turned around completely and holstered his blunderbuss to select his melee weapons. Then he raised his hammer up and walked backwards, his voice raised as he gave a speech.

"PPS! Listen to me! Listen to me Well!" That got the guilds attention." We have come together as a regiment for a reason and that reason is money! A head of us are men and women who want the same thing, but unlike us who earned our money the hard honest way, they want to rob us and take everything we own!" The guild members understood that, even the hired on guards who had a pitiful amount of coin knew they would be at an even more disadvantageous position if they were robbed." We cannot run and hide back in the city, because we will be hunted down like rats. We cannot negotiate with these people because they have re-enforcements to surround us and even if no violence follows you will be left wearing rags. I for one won't be wearing rags when I destroy the Chaos Gate ad get the hell out of this game!" Adler gave them a reason to fear the new enemy, who were unfortunately their own faction, and a reason to fight them, their lives.

"We can't run away, we can't negotiate, but we sure as hell can fight!" He raised their spirits with each sentence, a change coming over them, from the collectors and their guards who were more focused on running away then fighting a moment ago, into a motivated fighting unit." We're going to punch through that guild! We're going to punch through that gate! And you know what else we're going to do? We're going to howl loud enough for Ulric to hear us! No let me hear your war cry if you want to fight!" A dozen of his guild mates yelled as he walked back faster." Louder!" Half the guild then yelled, this time taking on a more primal aspect like a wolf cry as they began to jog to keep up with their master." I can't hear you! I want you to howl!" He then howled loudly, his guild… no pack howled back at him.

He laughed like a mad man and then turned around to face the enemy, they were now two hundred yards away and getting closer with each step he took. He could see as some of the players in the guild up a head break ranks and run away, it wasn't more than a dozen but his pump up efforts for his pack had an effect on them. He took step away from that mindset as a barbarian, he could charge in there and get them all stuck in, but that wasn't what they needed to do. They needed to punch through the opposing guild, not to get stuck in fighting them and be over whelmed. The guild was spread out, about twenty wide and five deep, his own guild could only match half of it. But it didn't need to, if his Pack could punch through, like a tightly packed lance lance then they will be able to burst through to the other side of the gate.

"Detachment A! Will follow me, weapons out! Detachment B will stay with Detachment C till we reach the gate, then will unleash fire directed at the center of the gate! Then all players switch to melee and will fight through the gate! No one stops at that point!"

He then drew his blunderbuss and along with Detachment A ran twice as fast as the rest of the pack, out pacing them. One of the opposing guild members took several steps forward, thinking that he could negotiate with Adler going ahead of his group. He held up an empty hand in a gesture of peace, he was a man in his early thirty's with long dirty brown hair, his eyes blood shot and wearing a green bandana." We of the Occupy Middenheim guild ask the PPS to-!" At thirty yards from the OM's lines Adler stopped." Form on me, two lines!" Detachment A then stopped, though stumbled a little. They then formed up on him, two lines of 8 armed with ranged weapons." Front rank kneel! Both ranks take aim on the center mass!"

Players from the OM guild were drawing their own weapons, but their leader who was just twenty yards away from their lines yelled to them." Put those down! We can still negotiate!" As his guild lowered their weapons Adler barked an order as the rest of his pack approached a scant ten yards behind." Fire!" He added his blunderbuss to the fusillade of fire. Due to them still being in Middenheim and all being the same fraction the bullets, arrows and pellets wouldn't kill them. But because of the kinetic force that meant they could still be knocked out or have the wind knocked out of them. As the smoke cleared Adler could see that there was now a small dent in the OM's lines with a dozen players down, though their leader still stood. Adler smirked and drew his melee weapons, they had already decimated the enemy guild with hardly any trouble." Charge you dogs!"

He then started running, his arms pumping in exertion as his Pack caught up with him. The OM's leader held up his hands." Please we can talk this-" Adler then struck the man in the head with his hammer, knocking him to the cobble stone road. At this point the OM's guilders who had ranged weaponry used it. Unlike the PPS who had stopped to aim at stationary un armored targets grouped into a mass at an ridiculously short range. The 30 some odd bow men who fired at the PPS were shooting at moving armored targets and were considering to run as well. When they did fire it was at one person a time and nothing directed at a specific area. Of the arrows fired 26 missed completely, flying over head of the Pack or skidding on the cobble stone sending up sparks. The four arrows that did find a human target bounced off their armor or a limb, slightly slowing their charge but not stopping them completely.

Then as the Pack was still running Detachment B started to fire their pistols at point blank range into the OM guild, firing directly into their faces or chests, knocking them out of battle. Adler howled insanely as he crashed into the OM guilders along with his Pack. He saw the light at the end of the gate house and he wasn't letting anyone get in his way! He brought his sword and hammer combo onto a player's neck in a side sweep, knocking him away, then struck out at a girl, not even half his age holding spear, driving his hammer into her face. He was brutal and yet efficient, like he was blessed by Sigmar or Ulric himself, maybe both given how the game world was. Along with Detachment C he helped carved away through the OM guild and passed through the gate and onto the roadway leading down into the Old Forest road below.

" Keep Moving! Were out of the city, don't stop till the forest!" He exhaled as his Pack broke out from the melee. As he continued to run the OM were broken by the shock tactics used by the Pack, many forgetting that they couldn't die in the city limits and saw that so many of them were now on the ground knocked out. They ran, first a few then more and more till the remaining OM guilders that remained were the only ones still on the ground. The PPS suffered only one casualty, Palov was knocked out when he was running into the OM lines by a blow underneath his chin. He was carried out by his comrades as they all ran as fast as they could into the safety of the forest below.

/

_4 miles north-west of Middenheim- Darkwald Forest- Province of Middenheim_

It was close to sundown when Adler finally called a halt to the run, despite Middenheim still looming in the distance high above them in its white walled splendor, now was a good time to catch their breath." Off the road, into the forest." Adler ordered and his pack did so, walking into the forest a two dozen yards before collapsing into heaps of ragged bodies. They rested against rocks, trees, on the cold snow covered earth and a few against each other. Adler breathed heavily as he rested against a tree, his legs giving out and slumping beneath him.

Adler looked around at the PPS. He could see that the adrenalin and ferocity that drove them past the Occupy Middenheim idiots was now drained from their bodies. Exhaustion took over, these people were ferocious like a pack of wolves when they attacked and broke through the lines. He thought of them as 'his' wolf pack when the blows came and howling began. He wondered whether that a hidden trait amongst the bonus to close combat that Middenheimers enjoyed. "Crush the Weak." He spoke under his breath, finally realizing that it was a special trait. In the old Storm of Chaos expansion book there was a list for the 'Army of Middenland' and it had a special rule called 'Crush the Weak'. That special rule granted some units the gift of hatred against enemy units at or below a certain leadership value. In this case it seem the rule favored the aggressive players while those who barely fought didn't feel 'hatred'. He would have to keep this to himself for now, not even his closet friends-

That was right he had friends. He opened up his menu and checked on messages, he saw that there was one from Steve. Adler opened it and read.' Hey I found a guild and am helping to clear the forests outside of Altdorf. Careful of some dudes named Occupy Altdorf, I think that a few groups like them are in the other Empire cites, they are on a witch hunt for anyone with lots of gold.' Adler sighed, he remembered the occupy wherever protests back when he was a teenager. Back then he thought they were a bunch of wannabe Vietnam protestors that missed the boat by 40 years and decided to exploit the economic crisis at the time, especially the children of those hit hardest. As it turned out protesting against the 1 percent was done by only 2 percent of the 99 percent and needless to say they were unpopular. Their popularity waned even more after they trashed the places where they staying at, caused damages to small business owners as well as big and reports of rapes in their camps.

He hypothesis that a few of these occupy bastards must have been friends when they logged into WAO and once one of them realized that they could finally 'get back' against the 1% percent, in this case people who owned a collector's edition of WAO." Those bastards are living in the wrong world." He said aloud, a few heads turned to him. Then he heard movement and turned to see Jack walking up to him. He sat down and spoke softly." Are you talking about that guild?" Adler nodded before speaking." They just made this game so much harder to survive." He then told Jack about what was happening in Altdorf and in the other parts of the Empire."… So I think their blocking anyone who has better equipment or more money than them and then shaking them down to redistribute the wealth. That's all fine and dandy if the for fact that we can't get out of this stupid death game if we can't have the best equipped armies in the game to lead to the destruction of the Chaos Gate. What they are doing isn't right for this world, it's a fantasy world there are different rules then the real one… or their fantasy." He finished, feeling even more exhausted than when he had finally led the PPS out of Middenheim.

"So not only do we have to cross the frozen wastes, fight against at least one army of destruction and destroy a gate to hell, but now we have to survive these idiots, oh and to top it off death is a possibility. Did I miss anything?" Jack said." No, I think you hit the nail on the head." Adler added non chantry, then added a quick grin." So… mind telling me why you sounded like a true believer when you said 'howl loud enough so Ulric can hear us'?" Jack asked. Adler gave a snort and closed the three middle fingers of his right hand, while his pinkie and thumb stuck out, then he placed the fist against his chest. This was the sign of the hammer to Sigmarites." That's because back in the real world I worship a god born of man and like to think there's a bit of him in everyone, good and bad."

Adler then looked out at his guild, his pack… his people and knew they needed to be told at least part of what was happening in the world. Adler then stood up and spoke loudly and clearly." Alright gather around people I've a few announcements to make." Some of the guild members stood, or walked closer, or just turned their heads to Adler to listen to him. " I want to say good job to all of you, if it wasn't for all of us working together then none of us would have been able to make it out of Middenheim. Though I gotta give special mention to Palov, he lead Detachment C as bravely as anyone could expect. How you holding up Palov?" He asked the big red headed Russian teen." Da, good, a bit dizzy but otherwise good comrade." Palov replied.

Adler continued." Good to hear. Onto some real business then. Those sons of bitches that blocked our way out of Middenheim aren't the only ones. There are other groups of them in the Empire, so we can't go into the cities just yet." That elicited groans from the guild." I know I know, but between the cities are a lot of towns we can hide in and were not the only faction to call the Empire home. So till the Occupy movement is over with we'll be hiding out in the wilds since if we run into these people again they will know that we are better off than them and if they find us, they will not knock us out but instead kill us." That elicited grim silence as his guild members processed what was happening and what that meant. Even the guards who signed on for the money were in the same boat as the collectors they meant to collect." I want you folks to rest up for the next five minutes also reload any guns or crossbows you have. Quartermaster Jack will be handing out bread so eat up, because after your done eating we'll be going into the forest a ways. Oh and for the guards after you eat I'll be handing you your first pay day!" That elicited a few shouts of joy and a mostly 'alrights, sweet, awesome, and about time' from the guild.

"So go on and eat, I'll tell you folks when were ready to move." Now that Adler was no longer in an immediate life or death struggle he found the speeches to be a little embarrassing, but one thing he had to do anyway. He opened the menu back up and selected the PM from Steve, he then composed a reply.' Guess who's still alive… well just barely anyway. I managed to create my own guild but in the process I got those Occupy idiots riled up so I won't be able to return to Middenheim for a few days. Keep me up to date on what's happening in your part of the Empire and I'll be doing my best on my end. P.S. I think Kayaba has been working from the old warhammer rule books and may have laced the races with some underlying traits.' He sent the message and then turned back the game at hand… game?

This world was no longer a game, it was a life. He had to stop thinking of WAO as a game, like he had to stop thinking of himself as Rufus. In his last life he was Rufus, an office worker for a fortune 500 company who's biggest responsibility was filing away fiscal reports. But he was just Adler now and his biggest responsibility was to his guild members who were people, these were lives not plastic models.

/

**Here are some links to maps, the first one are a series of maps of the Empire detailing the various provinces and part of the old world at large, the second one shows a detailed rendition of Middenheim as well as additional Empire cities, just scroll down to it. Just remove where it place a period. Also you need to download the second link's maps in order to fully view them.**

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	3. The Silver Seeker's

**A/N: See first chapter for disclaimer. Again this is a work of fantasy so please don't be pissed off at what this story contains. Also check out my DA profile for a painted model versions of Roshi and Desiree, links at the bottom of story. **

**Krikanalo: Thanks for the review, I will try to keep it up as best I can.**

**MadFrog2000: Thank you for your review and also the correction on that name.**

**Jouaint: Thanks for the reveiw**

**Mr I hate znt nobles: Eh, maybe**

**Giodan: You're going to love the later chapters then. If you want to read a 40K fic while waiting for the next chapter of WAO, why not look up Testing of Faith by yours truly?**

/

_The Worlds Edge Mountains 9 miles from the Border of Sylvania and on the edge of Zhufbar territory _

It was now day three of Roshi's trapped existence in the game of WAO and also the third day she had been hunting the mountainsides of Zhufbar. She wasn't doing it alone though, that would be near suicidal given her low level. She had joined a guild,' The Silver Seekers', they called themselves, at the gates of Zhufbar. They joined together for mutual protection in the harsh environment beyond the gates. As much as the city of Zhufbar was beautiful, with its waterfalls and stone work including its grand waterwheels for its industry, it wouldn't serve well as a place to gain experience if the players were to escape the game.

Roshi wanted to escape this world but in order to do that she and her dwarfen race needed to level up and sort out whether to become 'good or evil'. As much as she wanted to do good things if her race was going to turn 'evil' then she would join in. After all much of those choices were in the game world and didn't have any real life affects… that is if it involved player killing, that was where she drew the line. In her three days of being in the field she had seen four of her guild members die from the various mobs they had fought, but heard of no player killing amongst her race. Though that may change and she couldn't know if the other races were not killing each other off, since they hadn't come into contact with the other races yet, not even in the field.

What she had encountered though were mobs. These were mostly green skins of some kind, snotlings, goblins and the occasional orc that required the entire squad to slay. But despite the first day when she was getting used to her controls and stumbled through the fights, Roshi was now a decent enough player at level 3. She was armored from head to toe, now wearing an all iron chainmail outfit, including an iron plate helmet, she also carried with her a steel shield and hand axe. She had become what the more experienced mmo players called a tank. That was she got into the middle of combat and held the attention of the mobs, while the ranged and strikers did the serious damage. That didn't mean she couldn't do damage as well, she was at level 3 for a bigger reason than just soaking damage since she could still kill mobs.

The Silver Seekers had been back to Zhufbar only once and that was the day before since they needed to rest and re-equip. Because of their traveling further away from Zhufbar than other guilds or lone adventurers, they were able to fight high level mobs and in turn get better loot. Roshi's armor and weapons caused her to go broke and she couldn't even afford a room in her home city. But it was a good tradeoff for the protection it offered, though it put her to her weight limit fairly quickly. After spending a night in the gutter and having a light breakfast of black bread and beer provided by her guild mates, the guild was off to start hunting again.

The guild itself was fairly large in size, composing of 143 members it represented a sizeable percentage of the near 2000 strong population of Zhufbar. This was in turn just a sub faction of the dwarfen race, which numbered 13,543 in still alive members. The exact number of dwarf players, in fact each of the other races players, weren't know either to the common players. Each of the races had a 'Wall of Heroes', or some other similar sounding monument depending on the race of course, inscribed with the names of all the players in that faction. These monuments were set up in the capitals for each race, in turn there was a monument in the sub-factions capitol with each of the names from that faction. Despite the information being available for all of the races too read if they wanted to, it would take a serious effort of an organization to quantify and keep day to day track of the number of players still alive. Or maybe a certain Rat who could use that information to make a great amount of profit.

But the fact of how many players there we're didn't matter at the moment for the Silver Seekers, what mattered to them was the fact that they had discovered a greenskin fortress.

The Silver Seekers had traveled further then their fellow Zhufbarians, going deeper into the mountains then what was thought of as safe. But they had earned larger XP bonuses and more loot by being more adventurous, or reckless depending upon who was asked. The guild had four volunteer quarellers, crossbow armed dwarfs, who scouted ahead of the guild on the ill-used road. Two would be sent up ahead and one onto each flank of the guild to watch for possible mobs. The guild leader, Thordek, a man in his late thirty's with streaks of silver through his long black beard read a message in his menu. The other details of his face were obscured by a full face helm, save for his green eyes which shone through the eye slits. He raised and fist and called out." Halt!"

138 pairs of armored feet came to a halt, some of the dwarfs bumping into each other as they stopped walking. Thordek then sent a message back to his scouts and turned to speak to his guild." Alright, were going to rest now. Eat some food and keep an eye out for greenskins, you never know when AI is going to spring an ambush on us. Lieutenants up front!" As most of the dwarfs settled down resting, eight of their number walked forward and joined their leader in a conversation.

Roshi sat down on the cracked stone road and crossed her legs.' They must of found a large mob.' She thought absently, wondering what was waiting for them down the road. Then she felt a growling in her stomach that drew her mind away from what her leaders were doing and instead on her own hunger. Roshi looked at the lieutenants at the front of the guild and wished they had handed out some bread like they did earlier. She could of asked them for a loaf, but that would have been rude of her since they were in conversation with each other, she also didn't want to look weak by begging. She rubbed her stomach in discomfort and decided to wait.

She didn't have to wait long, as it turned out someone saw her discomfort and it wasn't a lieutenant. A red headed woman with curly red locks, just slightly taller than Roshi's was, walked up to her and held out a loaf of bread in her hand." Howdy there, couldn't help but notice you looked hungry." Roshi looked up at the woman, who's name was Desiree, she was about ten years older than she was and spoke with an American accent… a southern one? She took the bread, saying just above a whisper." Thank you." The woman smiled." Your welcome darlin', mind if sit next to ya?"

Roshi shook her head." No go ahead." Desiree then sat next to Roshi and asked." Couldn't help but notice the accent, you're a Brit right?" Roshi nodded." Yes, first generation. My parents and one of my brothers were from India." Desiree smiled." Well that's pretty swell. I'm from Mississippi myself, family's been down in those parts for a couple hundred years. Though I moved up north to be with my hubby a few years back." She sighed before continuing." We actually bought WAO together last week, we thought that we would be playing with each other soon enough…. But we made the mistake of choosing different races. Now's he's across the ocean playing a high elf."

Roshi felt a pang of understanding with the American. Even though she really didn't enjoy her elder brother's company much since he was becoming to much like their father, he was still the only family she had, despite him now being a wood elf and half way across the continent. With Desiree the separation was so much more difficult since she was missing the man she loved and there was an ocean separating them. Roshi now understood why the woman was talking to her in a moments clarity. So far in Zhufbar, Roshi had seen only a few dozen other women in the city and there were only two in the Silver Seekers. The dwarfs, or the ones living in Zhufbar, so it seemed were hit the hardest by the lack female players. What Desiree needed now was a companion to talk to.

She had been so nice to her and despite her shyness Roshi wanted to talk to her as well. She then spoke to Desiree." I'm sorry to hear that, my brother Nidal was also in the game with me. He's a wood elf and I don't know where he could be." Desiree's face sadden when she heard Roshi." We're in the same boat then darlin', I hope that we don't have to fight against our boys." Then she perked up." You said that you have more than one brother?" Roshi nodded, then casually said, like it was nothing." I had another brother, he died blowing himself and 32 other people up in a Lancaster football match."

Desiree was taken aback by the girls frankness." You mean your brother was-" Roshi sighed." Yes he was…." Then her grip on the bread tighten." Because of my father, I lost a brother and was on my way of loosing another until we we're trapped." She looked at Desiree apologetically." I'm sorry, my family problems are probably not what you wanted to hear right now. Since I know you have your own." Desiree shook her head." It's alright sugercube I just haven't talked to anyone yet an-"

As she spoke the two dwarf scouts arrived at the front of the column. Despite not knowing their names Roshi could tell them apart quite readily. They both were in their mid to late twenties, the one with blonde hair had a trimmed beard and the one with darker hair had a short stubbly beard, they also looked enough alike to be brothers. They wore heavy leather armor instead of the more common chainmail, since they would be able to move easier in the lighter armor. She saw them speak a few words to their guild master and his lieutenants, he then turned back to the guild and called out." Strikers, Ranged and Tank will be divided up. Listen to your lieutenants; we have a mob base up ahead."

Roshi then turned back to Desiree." Gotta go, we'll talk later." She put the bread into her inventory and stood." See you soon Rin." Roshi stopped walking for a moment, then continued on to the front.' My name is Roshi. I'm not a dwarf named Rin, I'm also a Hindu unlike my father, I want to escape this game and go on to college. I must keep telling myself that so I don't forget who I am.' She thought. Roshi had seen some of what had happen to her brothers start to take hold of the other players. It was a subtle effect, but dangerous if not handled properly. It was what would happen if a person was fully immersed into another culture, wearing the clothes and speaking a language. They would be absorbed into that society, despite coming from a different culture. In the end they had three options, they joined the new culture, go insane or escape it. She was planning on being the latter in this game.

She walked up to her lieutenant, a brunette bearded dwarf by the name of Gothric, as did the 13 other tanks in the squad." Alright listen up." Gothric began." About a quarter mile up the road is the entrance to a greenskin hold. Thordek says that the closet's greenskin fort to Zhufbar would be this place, its name is Skraklaz Ungor." Roshi listen and didn't like the sound of this place. She had fought along with her guild against some large concentrations of mobs before, at most twenty goblins and with an orc thrown in as well. But taking on a fortress, that was much more dangerous." We're going to explore the entrance, but not fight our way into the fortress proper. We'll be leading the way, so I want us to get into line now, three deep and five long, when the mobs come at us we'll hold the line so that strikers can worm their way in between the tank units. When Thordek gives the order we'll be pulling back to the road. Then we'll figure out what to do next. Are we clear?" Roshi's head as ell as the rest of her squad nodded in understanding, the plan was easy to understand and sounded relatively safe, they weren't going to conqueror the fort just explore the entrance. If things got hairy… present company excluded of course, then they would just fall back.

"Then form up into the squad and wait for the others to finish their briefing. Front rank form on me." Gothric then stood in the middle of the highway. Two dwarfs set up on his right and two others on his left. Despite the first rank forming neatly the other two were not so lucky. There was pushing, stumbling and the not uncommon foot stomping as the tanks got into position. Despite their lieutenant trying to sound like a professional military person, the dwarfs were still a bunch of gamers who would need weeks of working together before they approached anything close unit coherency. Roshi worked her way to the back of the unit in the incomplete fourth line.

It didn't take long for the other meetings to finish and their own squads got into the column. The three units of tanks were up front since they would be leading the way while the strikers were behind them and behind them filling in the rear were the ranged squads. In a matter of moments she heard Thordek at the head of the column." Move out!" As they all began to trudge to the goblin fort, Roshi took out the black bread Desiree had given her.' Well at least this body is good for something, it makes this bread edible.' She thought as her teeth ground down the tough black bread.

/

_Skraklaz Ungor_

Skralaz Ungor was at one time a small dwarfen hold along the World Edge mountains, much like the fallen hold of Karak Varn it had been a home for miners of the rare metal Gromil. But those days were long gone, the hold was now a small greenskin fortress. The entrance, where a stone image of one of the dwarfen ancestors once greeted travelers and been a sign of the masonry skills of the clan that inhabited, was defaced and carved by greenskin hands to look nothing more than a stylized skull. Ringing out from the sides of the entrance was a ramshackle wall ten feet tall that went out as far as twenty five yards, with a small greenskin encampment within.

Roshi over all thought that though crude the defenses were effective at keeping people out, they reminded her of her history classes were the teacher talked about how the first castles were more or less just timber stockades. She along with her guild watched the small fort from behind a hill rise two hundred yards away. They watched mostly goblins and the occasional orc walk about the encampment, they were fighting, talking, scheming and otherwise were doing what they preprogramming had told them to do before they went arggo.

Thordek walked up behind her squad and said." Gothric squad I need your time." Roshi's head turned and looked at the older dwarf." I need you to batter down the gates so that squads Dordi-" A ranged squad lead by a short breaded blond dwarf."- and squad Maurice-" A striker squad led by a black bearded and bald dwarf."- can get into the fort. You'll follow after Maurice and the rest of the guild will go after you. After that we'll eliminate what mobs there are at the gates and loot the fort."

"That's all well and good sir but I see we didn't bring a cannon with us so how do you suppose we'll get in there?" This question came from Gothric. Thordek opened his inventory window and with a press of his finger a six person battering ram materialized in thin air. Thordek held onto it, steadying the battering ram." This is how." Roshi was impressed, she didn't know that her guild was able to afford a piece of siege equipment like that so early in the game. She knew Thordek was a fan of the table top game but that didn't explain how…. Then it hit her, he was an owner of the collector's edition of the game, they had extra gold coins when they started the game so as to jump start their virtual armies. She didn't say anything though and neither did her comrades, though the realization of their leaders extra funds dawned on them. It was his gold and he spent it anyway he saw fit.

" Alright sir." Gothric took the battering ram and had six of his dwarfs grab hold of one of the handles." For the rest of you get your shields out and protect the battering ram bearers." Gothric said to his squad before turning back to the guild master." Ready when you are sir." Thordek nodded and drew his pistol with his left hand and hand ax with his right, then he stood at the top of the hill in full view of his guild and the camp below. He waved his pistol forward and shouted." Over the top and at them!" The dwarfs then started to move over the top of the hill, a few slipping as they walked over the rocky terrain.

The dwarfs were running down the hill, the lieutenants keeping their squads in formation as best they could and stopping them from intermingling with the other units. The goblin sentry's, stationed on rickety wooden towers, were finally agrro'ed when the dwarfs reached a hundred yards from the walls. Within the encampment the sounds of chaos could be heard as the greenskins readied themselves for battle. Scattered goblin arrows were fired from the sentry's and inside the fort, these arrows were inaccurate to say the least and were best fired in arrow storms, but some came close to hitting the feet of the dwarfs. Two squads stopped as the arrows impacted the rocky ground, these were the reserved ranged units.

The dwarfs in the units took aim with crossbows and handguns, taking about five seconds to aim at the sentrys, then unleashed their weapons at the greenskin sentrys. In a mix thunder claps and bow twangs goblin screams could be heard and then stopped when they were killed. As the ranged units reloaded the melee armed squads moved further to the gate." Keep running, when we hit the gate!" Gothrik shouted to his battering ram crew. His squad didn't slow even as arrows pinged off the shields of his squad. In fact they ran all the faster, the bronze rams head aimed directly at the gate.

With a crash of metal against wood the door buckled inwards as wood splintered, the gates didn't break but they were down to three quarters in durability." Heave back, heave ho, heave ho!" Gothric shouted, getting his battering ram pulled back before it crashed forwards into the gate, another tenth down. From one of the nearby strikers over hearing Gothrics orders, he called back sarcastically." Don't you mean Hi Ho!" Gothric looked at the dwarf first in anger, then his face soften and he laughed." You heard the man. Hi ho! Hi Ho! It's off to war we go!" That got laughs from amongst the guild, Roshi's own adding to the mix as she guarded against incoming arrows.

'This is so insane, we're trapped inside a video game where we can die, we're fighting an untold number of greenskin's and to top it off were a bunch of dwarfs singing a Disney song. Why not laugh?' Roshi thought as an virtual arrow clanged off her shield. The gate's durability was whittled down quickly from the repeated blows, the door splintering from each blow." Dordi there almost through, get your boys ready." Thordek ordered loudly. The ranged unit then got behind Gothrics unit as they waited.

Then with a crash the gate was broken." Drop the ram, clear a path!" Gothric shouted to his unit, leading the way of stepping to the side. His unit though either ran to the other sides of the gate or laid down on the ground. Past the gates a horde of fifty goblins lead by three orcs boyz had assembled." WAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!" The greenskin's shouted as they charged at the dwarfs on the other side of the gate." Fire at the orcs!" Dordi ordered to his squad. In a mix of bullets and bolts two of the orcs fell as did several of the gobbo's , the remaining orc's health was halved but he along with his horde kept on coming." Maurice!" Thordek called out.

The black bearded dwarf hefted his great hammer over his shoulder and ran at the gates." Come on you bastards!" His squad followed after him lifting up axes or hammers as they charged the oncoming horde. At the very center of the gates the two forces met. The dwarfs were the first to strike, they smashed their weapons easily through the gobbo's bodies and heads. The kill for the orc boy went to Maurice who's hammer blow caved in the giant greenskin's head, mushing it into little more than green mash potatoes. Then the goblins struck back, their spears, swords and clubs stabbing or swiping at the dwarfs. The dwarfs blocked and backed away from the attacking greenskins. The goblins poured from the gates in a green tide, seemingly ready to surround the strikers… that was if they were not boxed in by a low wall of iron.

"Tanks hold them!" Gothric howled above the din of battle, his squad on either side of the gates. Roshi lifted her shield to protect her body and brought her ax down on a goblins neck, decapitating it in one swoop as her comrades pressed in against the horde. The strikers rallied and then started to carve a new path of green blood towards the gates." Push them through the gates!" She heard Thordek as he joined the melee, firing his pistol into the chest of one of the small greenskins.

Roshi heard the command and started to push into the rapidly diminishing horde. She pushed a goblin to the side whose body was crushed by Desiree's great hammer. At the same time Roshi sliced open another greenskins throat. The guild fought side by side as a metal reaper cutting down a harvest of wheat. Then as suddenly as the order to advance was given, they were through the gates and the fighting stopped with the last digital heartbeat of the last goblin.

In total the entire fight, from running down the hill to fighting into the fort, had taken less than ten minutes. Where fifty green skins had been only a little while ago now there was green mush and dropped items. The Dwarfs on the other hand had taken the battle fairly lightly, only three players were in the yellow of their health bars, with Maurice being at the lowest and the other players were still in the green. Roshi panted heavily, this was the most intense fight she had been in since she arrived in this world. Not just fighting against the mobs but also running across the rocky terrain in fully armor with short legs. It was exhilarating, the rush of combat, the feeling of adrenaline, it was no wonder so many people wanted to be in this game.

Roshi's thoughts were interrupted by Thordek." Alright reload, rest and start looting boys. Lieutenants with me to the center of the camp." He then walked to the center of the camp to await the arrival of his lieutenants.' Well guild masters orders.' Roshi thought as she joined in on the looting of the camp.

/

Archie Finks, or in his current alias Harnok, was rifling through the contents of a basket, throwing it to the side after finding nothing of value within the container. Archie, like every other human in WAO, was trapped in a virtual world. The ones who decided to play as the human factions were lucky, he had seen what the mirror had done to the human players at the Chaos gate, when they turned back to 'normal'. For the non-human races it was as if they were turned only half way human. He had seen the lizard men take on an appearance as if humans had been breeding with them, such as their hair, body and even faces taking on a human quality. While the elves stayed more of less the same… though so much more taller than they were in real life. The dwarfs though… the dwarfs were the least changed of the races. They had the same short well-proportioned body, beards and hair styles as they did before they were turned half way human. But the faces and races those players were underneath the beards were the humans they once were.

He hated the fact that this had happen to him, he was here to play the ultimate in sensory gaming, not be shoved into a world where he could easily die. So in order to survive he joined the Silver Seekers, a large group of dwarfen clearers so he could get stronger and not worry so much about whether or not death was right around the corner. That lead him to his current situation of rifling through goblin trash to find a few more coins or something of value to sell once they reached Zhufbar.

He grumbled to himself and looked to the entrance of Skraklaz Ungor. There wasn't any dwarfs around the entrance unlike towards the front of the fort, so he might as well see if there was any loot which haddn't been plundered by that area. He walked towards the entrance, keeping his eyes on the ground looking for anything shiny. He was told along with the rest of his striker squad and the guild not to enter the cave itself so he stayed off to the side of the entrance along the cliff facing.

Archie continued to curse his luck, still nothing, not a basket, a piece of scrap iron and not a-. That was when he saw it, it was a shadow but he saw movement from within the cave. He walked closer to the cave entrance, his eyes adjusting to the low light, one of the racial ability of dwarfs to have a heighten sense of light in the dark. There was movement again, this time the shadow was running deeper into the cave." Hey stop!" Archie called, then he made a mistake that put the entire guild in danger, he stepped over the threshold of the entrance.

/

Roshi was looting a corpse of the goblin, putting its spear into her inventory for later resale to one of the npc dealers, it wouldn't be much but at least it would be a few more coppers to buy food with. On the first day she had come to turns with looting and touching the dead bodies of mobs, it was a taboo to handle bodies in her culture, but because these bodies were not real she was sure that the gods would look the other way. As she bent over to do the same she heard a disgusting slavering noise come from the entrance of Skrazlaz Ungor. The other dwarfs heard the noise and turned to the entrance where one of their number was running away from the entrance and to the side of the cliff facing.

As the slavering continued to grow in volume so did the sound of something heavy… bouncing? Yes some things that were large were bouncing out of the cave. Thordek saw the shadows within the cave and Roshi could see his eyes widen in fear." Sweet mother of god, Squigs! Squads form up by the gate!" Thordek was running his lieutenants joining him a moment later. Roshi then saw what made her guild leader run as they bounded out from the skull like entrance.

The eight creatures were round orange-reddish colored monsters that stood on two legs. They hopped out from the cave their mouths gaped open, which were impossibly large and filled with hundreds of small razor sharp teeth. They were about as tall as a goblin but three times the ugly. But what was most frightening about the squigs were not their appearance alone, but there was also a boss amongst them. It was a night goblin who was holding onto a particular large squig by chains that pierced into its skin at the corners of its jaws. The goblin had an insane smirk on its face as it directed the monstrous mount towards the dwarfs. To make it worse this boss had a trio of health bars.

The squigs charged at the dwarfs, out pacing the reorganizing dwarfs." Don't get in front of them!" Dordi shouted as he ran to his squad. Maurice either stupidly or bravely stopped and swung his great hammer around onto one of the squids, the impact causing the squig to lose a third of its health and made it fall to the way side. Before he could swing again at another squig, the boss bounded up infront of the dwarf. The jaws of the larger squig then open impossibly wide, half again the width of its body and it swallowed Maurice nearly whole. His legs kicked out almost comically right before the squig crunched down fully onto the unfortunate player, killing him.

Roshi raised her shield and bent her legs as the squigs came on, ready to get out of the way and slash at the mean buggers." Shoot the little ones! Shoot them!" The order could of came from any of the other dwarfs, but that seemed like a good idea the players listen to. There was sporadic fire as some of the bullets and bolts hit the smaller squigs. Two of their number were felled by the wizzing projectiles and more were wounded. But the remaining squigs came on madly, seemingly impervious to pain.

They crashed into the confused dwarfen lines scrambling and chomping at the players. Another player who's health was at yellow had his axe arm bitten off and his HP hit zero, three more players were sent into the yellow and even more started to loose health from the scratches the squigs were causing. Roshi twisted to the side and brought her axe down on the side of the one of the beasts after it attacked one of the players, its HP dropping 15 percent. The creature then turned and tried to get at her, but she turned with it.' That's how we get them, just stay away from the mouth and keep slicing at them.' She thought. Again she side stepped and brought down her axe onto its side, this time 10 percent.

One of the strikers saw what she was doing and decided to help out. The red headed striker brought her great hammer down on the beasts face in a powerful swing onto its jaws which took out another 30 percent of health, which due to Roshi's actions and a bullet made its health fall into the red. With the beast districted by the strikers hit, turning to her, Roshi brought her ax down one last time onto the squigs forehead, her axe burring into it and caused the beasts HP to drop to zero.

Roshi then looked at the striker and was surprised to see it was Desiree." Thanks." She said to the American, who nodded back." Anytime." Roshi was about to smile when she saw Thordek and Gothric fighting the boss all by themselves. Thordek fired his pistol at the boss at point blank range hitting it and causing a quarter of one of its HP bars to go down. Then when the boss tried to hit him he stepped back so that Gothric could take the blunt of the blow. They both stepped back when the goblin on the squig gripped the chains of his mount, this was the tell sign for when the boss would attack with its… 'gobble' attack. Though they seemed to be making good progress with the boss as it was nearly two health bars. The problem being they would be both dead before they had the boss at a single health bar.

Gothric was in the red and Thordek was in yellow of their health bars, with the bosses attacks being so powerful they would be reduced to zero HP soon enough. With the rest of the guild occupied with putting down the smaller squigs they could go and help their master and his lieutenant, they could kill the boss afterwards but then they would be left without experienced leadership. Roshi never thought of herself as a fighter or even a brave girl back in England, if showed either of those tendencies then her father would curse and threaten her. But what she knew that she was stubborn and determined person at heart and she sure as hell wouldn't let the men who lead her in this new world die when she had a chance to save them.

"Follow me if you can." Roshi said to Desiree, as soon as the words left her mouth she was charging at the boss. She raised her shield up as she ran and watched, in anger, as the battle claimed a life. When the boss's second health bar was reduced to half strength the attack pattern changed, instead of the night goblin urging its squig to gobble up its prey, the beast launched a trio of gobble attacks to its left and right. One of which swallowed Gothrics shield and hand with it. With his HP running down to zero Gothric cursed." Goddamn Kayaba!" Then his HP dropped to zero and he fell to the ground, dead. The boss then hopped and knocked Thordek over. The Squig was on top of him, pinning him to the ground with his legs on his arms. The monster roared and saliva splattered onto Thordeks face.

Roshi gave a wordless war cry as she charged at the boss. As she did so she felt… something in her a mix between hate and a growing sense of power in her step. Then when she reached the boss she unleashed that power into a strong shield bash. Looking back at it Roshi was surprised at her own strength and that she hadn't thought about her 'weapon skills' before, up to then it was doing basic attacks or blocking, never that she could make things easier by using the gaming system to her advantage. The shield bash was powerful enough to knock the squig over and have its second life bar reduced to only one.

With the boss down and off Thordek Roshi unleashed two more attacks on the squig, reducing its last health bar to 75 percent. Then the squig hopped up onto its legs and was about to attack her, when suddenly it was knocked down by a hammer blow. Desiree heaved the hammer back over her shoulder getting ready to attack the squig again. But it didn't, at 40 percent of its last health bar the night goblin boss stood up on his own, his mount dead. The night goblin brandished a heavy great ax as it prepared to defend itself." I'll hold him, you hit." Roshi said, once again raising her shield up." Right." Desiree said, stepping to the side to get into position for the near final strike.

Roshi breathed outwards and then launched herself at the night goblin. The boss was quick, even though it wielded a great weapon, it leveled a strike at Roshi that impacted against her helmet. Had this been the real world that hit would of at least given her a concussion, it not gone through and ended her permanently. But instead the blow reduced her HP by a 40 percent, putting her dangerously low in the yellow. Roshi held the great weapon between her shield and ax, stopping it from being used at least for a moment. Desiree wasn't idle in that time, she moved behind the boss and swung her hammer, inflicting a bone crunching blow to the goblins back. The boss crumpled to the ground, its health bar just hovering at 10 percent full.

Roshi dispatched the boss with a single blow to the neck, decapitating the greenskin gobbo. Desiree looked at her and smiled." Great job sugercube." It wasn't just Desiree who complimented Roshi. There was a screen above the boss that said '_Congratulations you've beaten the boss'_ Below that it informed her that she leveled up. Then another screen appeared that said 'Last Attack Bonus: Acolyte of Valaya's Golden Band'. Roshi accepted the item and quickly looked it over in her inventory. She saw that it was a golden headband and that it had a latent ability to speed up health regeneration by three HP points a second. It also had the option to be upgraded five more times. She glossed over her equipment to see that her helmet's condition was degraded to almost being broken from great weapons to arrow strikes. Roshi decided to wear the headband, switching out the helmet and returning it to her inventory for later resale.

Thordek walked up behind her." Hey I want to say thank you for what you did back there Rin." Roshi turned around and bowed her head." Your welcome sir, I'm sorry that I wasn't there earlier to save Gothric." Thordek shook his head, his long salt and pepper bread following after it." It was something you at least tried to stop from happening and for that I'm thankful." He then looked at the guild as they put down the last of the squigs." I'm down two lieutenants." He spoke, still watching his guild recover from the attack." Are you two girls interested in taking over Maurice's and Gothric's squads?" He asked turning back to Desiree and Roshi.

The girls didn't need long to come to a decision. With the extra pay, better XP gathering and the potential respect of others, it didn't take a genius to understand the benefits this position offered." Yes." Roshi said a moment later Desiree added." Hell ya." Thordek's face lighten and he then opened his menu to promote the pair to sub-commanders of the Silver Seekers." Good now then gather up your squads were going to-" Thordeks commands were interrupted by a shout near the entrance of the cave.

"Hey, lookit what I caught!" Roshi looked at the cave entrance to see a red bearded dwarf dragging a goblin out from within. It whimpered as it tried to stand up, its feet dragging along the rocky ground." Harnock what have you got?" One of the striker lieutenants spoke, walking along with Dordi towards Harnock and his prisoner." Found this little dude trying to escape." The goblin spoke, not in the high pitched nasally voice of a goblin but that of a player." I was trying to hide from you, not escape."

'A player?' Roshi thought as she watched the scene unfold." Ha! Don't lie you were trying to escape after you sent that boss after us." Harnock said, pushing the black cloaked gobbo into the ground." I was trying to hide after you spotted me, y-you came after me after you destroyed the fort." That got a kick to the ribs delivered by Harnock. The dwarf drew his ax and the goblin panicked." Please don't kill me! I'm a player just like you!" Harnock put his boot onto the goblins chest holding him still." All the better reason for you to try and kill us, stopping the dwarfs from becoming more powerful." As Harnock raised his ax Dordi ran forward along with Thordek, Roshi's own feet adding to the movement towards the scene. As Dordi shouted." No wait he's-!" Harnocks axe came down three times onto the greenskin's players head, hacking the player to death. The diamond above his head turning orange.

Thordek reached Harnock first, punching him across the jaw, flooring the dwarf." The fuck is wrong with you!" Thordek roared at Harnock. Harnock looked up at his guild leader, anger in his eyes." I killed the reason why we lost so many dwarfs today." If he tried to gain sympathy for the murderous act he committed, he failed spectacularly." That is for me to decide, not you. I will not have a murderer in my guild!" Thordek opened up his screen, getting into the guild options. Harnock raised up an open hand." Please I was just trying to protect the guild, after the goblin set the boss after us."

Dordi spoke, glaring daggers at the murderer." You set it off the boss when you entered Sraklaz Ungor you idiot." Harnock looked at Dordi." How do you know?" He asked the lieutenant. Dordi looked to Thordek, like he wanted to share a secret with the older dwarf. Thordek nodded silently, giving his permission." I was a beta tester." Dordi spoke." I was here before when the test was going on and saw what triggered the mid-boss to go aggro. That would be someone walking over the threshold." Harnocks eyes widen as he gave his last, weak defense." B-b-but why didn't you warn us?" Thordek answered that question." I gave orders to every dwarf here not to enter the fortress. You disobeyed, you murdered a player and tried to blame your mistake on him. You can go fuck yourself for all I care because you're out of my guild." He then pressed a button that kicked Harnock out of the guild, banning him from entering it again." Now get out of my sight orange boy and don't ever let me see your face in Zhufbar again." He kicked Harnock in the ass to get him going. The disgraced dwarf then ran, a path being formed by players stepping aside so he could leave through the broken gate.

Thordek then sighed heavily as he looked at the remains of the goblin player, his digital body disintegrating." Such a waste." He said under his breath. Then he spoke to his gathering guild." Let this be a lesson to you all. If you kill a player who poses no threat to you, then I'm kicking you out for good. If you disobey me I'll still kick your ass." The guild was silent as they listen to their leader." Now we lost some people today, good people at that. But we're in a war to escape this hell hole of a world so people will lose their lives. In this war though we have to make a choice, it's up to each of you to make it, whether or not we stay human or we become monsters. Because if you make the wrong choice you will have to live with it for the rest of your life, even if you escape."

He took a breath before continuing." Enough speeches. I've got a pair of announcements. First off is that Rin is taking over for squad Gothric and Desiree for squad Maurice. I expect you to treat them with the same respect as you did to their former commanders. Secondly we are leaving now and heading back to Zhufbar. After today's events you deserve a nights rest." He looked at the faces of his guild and shouted." Move out!"

/

Juro Toe Splitter, otherwise known as Ashley Rose in the real world, watched the dwarfs leave the fort of Sraklaz Ungor. She, along with her friend Geets, had traveled from Crag Mere, or in the dwarfen tongue Karak Varn, over the past three days to reach the dwarfs of Zhufbar on a diplomatic mission from the greenskin guilds. She had hoped to talk to the dwarfs there and see about striking a peace deal that didn't involve them going to war with each other. She had hoped that this mission would stop any bloodshed from happening between the two races. But she had been wrong, dead wrong.

A days rest was all they needed, that was what she said they needed after traveling so far. Just a few hours rest at the goblin fort she insisted to Geets. Then they would be rested for the last leg of the journey to Zhufbar. Geets agreed to it begrudgingly though he wanted to continue on. It was hard to believe that only a few hours ago they had that conversation and if she just listened to him they would of meet with those same dwarfs peacefully. But now Geets was dead, murdered because of his skin.

Juro, like everyone else in WAO had been transformed into their avatars. But unlike the other races which took on female appearances if they were that gender in real life, the orcs and goblins were asexual and resembled 'boyz' even after the mirrors. This was a bit of a shock to her, especially getting used to the… extra parts. Geets was there for her when she had cried that first day, telling her everything was going to be alright. He kept on telling her that till the damn dwarfs attacked the fort.

At first they hid in the entrance of Skrazlaz, thinking it would be safe, not being recognized as a mob and then talk to dwarfs after they did their pillaging. But when that one… that murderer decided to investigate the cave she ran deeper iinto the entrance. Then the squigs appeared and hopped out to meet their ancestral enemies. Even when the squigs had been dealt with she held out hope that they could talk to the dwarfs. Then Geets was captured by the idiot dwarf and murdered right before her eyes. She couldn't watch after the first blow. After a few minutes of waiting she turned to watch the dwarfs leave.

Now all those hopes were crushed and all that remained… was survival and revenge.

/

Roshi surprised to see a cart approaching on the stone path coming from Slyvania. Even from this distance she could see the occupants pointing up at the dwarfs. They were much more taller than the dwarfs and wore the yellow/black clothes of one of the Empire realms.'Averland?' she thought as she observed them get closer.

It had been less than an hour since she and her comrades had left the greenskin fort. They had traveled on to a fork in the road that lead to Slyvania in the west through two different routes and a single road to Zhufbar in the east. She haddn't been able to talk to Desiree since they had been promoted, both were tending to their squads. It was one of the rangers that caught sight of the wagon, calling the column to a halt when they spotted the humans a mile away.

When Thordek heard about it he told his lieutenants, herself included, to gather at the edge of the fork so they could meet with the humans. When the wagon saw the greeting party it slowed down considerable and Roshi was able to get a good look at its occupants. The two at the front of the wagon had to of been a father and daughter, the girl was in her early teens at best with bright curly blonde hair and a rounded face, while the man sitting next to her was at the very most thirty years her senior with blonde curly hair with streaks of silver and an almost similar face. Behind them though were people who were most defiantly not related to the father and daughter. All five of them were armored in steel breast plates and other bits of armor including helmets. The one that struck her as the most individual was a man wearing a not a helmet, but a headband to partially cover his unruly red hair.

As they got very close Thordek took several steps ahead of his lieutenants and waved at the wagon. The wagon driver waved back and stopped the horses, pulling the wagon to a stop. He spoke with his daughter and handed the reins off to her, before stepping off the driver's seat. The man approached the dwarfs, he was armed with a brace of pistols and a fine steel long sword at his waist, he was armored with a steel cuirass and steel greaves, his arms were covered in the red and black selves of Averland. The man's face was thin, though with a short nose similar to his daughter, he had blue eyes in contrast with his daughters brown. Thordek was the first to speak." Hello there stranger, my name is Thordek of Zhufbar, anything I can do to help you?"

The man spoke with a clear German accent." Ja, my name is Fredrik Weiss. I, my daughter Bertha and our hired men, led by that redhead man Klein, are looking for shelter." Thordek looked him over." Weiss eh… oh I know you, you're supposed to be the head of Games-Workshop Germany. I saw you once when I visited Germany's Games Day." Then he realized he was getting off track of the conversation and shook his head." Sorry real world stuff. Anyway why are you here and not in Averland? Does this have to do with why you're looking for shelter?"

Weiss nodded." Averland isn't safe for collector right now." Thordek raised a questioning eyebrow." Why is that?" Weiss spoke, his shoulders slumping as if he bore the weight of what had happen on his back." Averland… nein, the entire Empire is in anarchy."

/

**A/N Well folks here we are the end of the chapter. Look down below for the links to my DA profile for the images of higher level Roshi and Desiree. If those don't work look up the link to DA through my FF.N profile and look in the gallery folder marked WAO to find some images of warhammer regiments, scenery or just individuals that will be making appearances. If you enjoyed the fan fiction or you have a problem with it please write a review, because I do try to answer your questions without spoiling to much. **

Roshi

art/WAO-Roshi-389971625

Desiree

art/Reaper-Forge-Maiden-263280262

The map that I used was a Slyvanian map, this is only one showing details around Zhufbar. You need to scroll down to find it.

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	4. Path of Glory: The First Step

**A/N: See first chapter for disclaimer. Blah! I'm sorry readers, I thought separating the links would work and then I go and look to see that FF.N doesn't even allow me to do that! Well at least you'll be able to view my DA profile fairly easily in the folder marked WAO, the maps you'll have to do some digging on the internet unfortunately. I also mis-spelled Roshi's last name its supposed to be Patel, not Petal. Also some other news, this is going to be the last of the 'character' chapters were I focused on one character at a time… but it's also the start of an story arc. That's right this story will now be divided into story arcs, with Roshi and Rufus the story arcs will be structured and at regular intervals but with Krutz… well he is part of the chaos faction after all, so things will be random! Things will be slowing down for updates as well and sorry for the shortness/quality of the chapter.**

**A word to my reviewers**

**Jouaint: Thank you for your review**

**Krikanalo: Thank you for your review. Though as stated in chapter three I won't be following your advice.**

**Ogi: Thank you for your review and to tell you the truth I had many of the same misgivings about Jacob as well. But your concerns will be taken into account as we progress through the story.**

**MagFrogger2000: Thanks for the Review! The dwarf war song is actually a canon song from Warhammer, I plan on including a few others as well. With the lizard men, think anthropomorphic (AKA Furrys) lizardmen with the same hair style as they did in their real bodies. Wait there is person with the actual name Ashley Rose? Well that seems to be the dwarfen occupation of saving the saviors for the past 2,500 years. Also with the canon characters, don't worry they will be all over the old world map with various factions… and might even change their allegiance. **

**Serria117: Yeah, some of these characters may never be seen again, but who knows they may play an important part in the story later on like in the original SAO.**

/

_The Realm of Chaos_

For a 12 days now Krutz had lived in his new home in the north, each day bringing with it new horrors and challenges. Horrors that which were pleasant representations of his mind and challenges that served as playful diversions. Life in the chaos wastes was harsh with no greener with the ground hard and cold if it wasn't covered in snow. The skies were mostly in an eternal twilight with brief periods of sunlight or pure darkness, though auruas were consistent throughout the day. The only eye catching terrain on the wastes were the rock formations or spires sticking out of the earth like they were spear points aimed at the heavens. That didn't mean there weren't any unnatural landscapes in the chaos wastes though.

In the distances there were small collections of huts belonging to the hardy tribes that inhabited the north and which was the current target for Krutz's affections. The collection of huts was inhabited by a tribe of NPCs, similar to the other ones he and his guild had destroyed after completing a quest for them or if they were just in the way. It didn't matter if he killed them, they would re-spawn later on. Of his guild, the Third Wave, there were 23 players in it. This was a small guild but over the past week there had been over fifty players who joined, but were eliminated because of attrition, from the raids, XP gathering or coming into conflict with other players. This left the remaining guild members as the most competent or lucky survivors, with all the players between leveled between 5 and 9. The highest leveled warrior in the guild was Krutz.

Krutz was always there on the front lines of any conflict, cutting a swath of destruction with his great axe, fighting mobs, NPCs or other players; it didn't matter much to him. This earned him a lot of respect from his guild, due to his 'heroics', but also fear from him because of his gleeful willfulness to PK if the situation called for it. So far he had killed eight players on his near non-stop rampage through the Chaos Wastes. That was not including the hundreds of mobs he had killed to reach this point.

Ever since he had reached level 5, though it was not necessarily him alone that was doing the killing. When he reached that level he was allowed to recruit a 10 man unit of chaos marauders. This took money from his pocket to recruit, equip them with great weapons and to pay for up keep, but gave him an extra edge when facing mobs, the XP he earned divided between him and his unit. Now that he was level 9 his unit was an 18 man strong regiment of undivided marauder bots. Though it was a decent tradeoff for the meat shields when compared to being a magic user.

The magic users, because being at the starter class of magic users they were called adepts, had gained the ability to cast magic but could not command bots till they were at level 20. But till that time they were going to act as support characters. They had three adepts in the group, a Tzenchtian, a Nurglan and undivided sorcerer. The chaos adepts were given a 'vision' that guided them through the steps of casting a spell and learning their first 'signature spell'. In non-magical terms they were given a tutorial while sleeping and when they awoke they would know how to structure spells and cast them.

Of the adepts in the guild the Tzeentch player, Eken, was the worse off for casting spells, since his god was fickle and there was an equal chance that he could buff his target with a regen bonus as much as there was a chance to deliver extra damage. The second most useful sorcerer was an undivided fellow by the name of Renis, that had join the guild two days back, he had access to the lore of death which combined with slower mobs or players was quite effective against them. The most effective spell caster though was Lurch, the Nurgle follower. Not only was his signature spell powerful in close support against low level mobs but each time he cast a spell he would heal himself.

It wasn't just sorcerers and Krutz that made the guild strong, but the other players as well. Because of all of them were above level five they were able to recruit units of their own, except for the adepts, so the actual size of the guild was above 250 members, admittedly they were bots but they were still strong enough to take on almost any challenge save another army of bots. Of all the warriors though, the one which had earned his place as Krutz's right hand man, Gestalt had proven to be the most level headed and calculating of all.

When he had reached level 5 Gestalt didn't choose to go along with the rest of the warriors in choosing the cheaper foot marauders, but instead he invested his hard won gold into a unit of horsemen. Despite now being at level 8 Gestalt had kept his unit small at only 5 marauder horsemen, plus himself. He kept the unit small because of the upgrades he put into them, turning what could have been just a simple harassment unit into hard hitting flanking regiment. The unit was fully upgraded with light armor, shields, throwing javelins, spears and each member with a mark of khorne, thus giving them an attack, strength and armor buffs on par with chaos warriors on foot.

Despite being an elite warrior and equipped heavily in furs and armor, in fact his face wasn't visible behind his helm like all the other guild members, Gestalt preferred being called Gerry instead of his avatar tag. Gerry was also the only one not to follow Krutz out of fear or respect, but out of hope. Krutz welcomed any new member of the guild with a short speech saying that he was the boss of the guild, that he wouldn't tolerate cowardice and that he would lead the way in combat so they could escape the game and return to the real world. Gerry cared not so much that Krutz was the leader or blood stained by the blood of his enemy's and cowards, but what he cared about was escaping this hell hole of a game. Krutz was the second most driven person Gerry knew, besides himself, that wanted to escape and so he followed the undivided champion even if it meant becoming 'evil' just to escape the game.

So far those evil deeds were just taking the more despicable options in quests or in the case of Krutz his preferred corruption method was PKing anyone who met his displeasure. So far Gerry was proving to be more than useful enough for Krutz, so for now the Khorne follower was safe in the guild leader's good graces.

"Guild?" Krutz heard the word, it was as if it was a low whisper spoken into his ears at the same time. He looked around and thought he saw something just outside his peripheral vision, but as soon as the feeling came it went. He shook his helmeted head and buried himself in thought, his feet still moving as he strode towards the tribe.' Humpf we are no longer a guild at this point. We are no group of adventurers or spotty tweens, we are followers of chaos, we are slaughters and most of all we are… a tribe.' He stopped to think about his realization and then grinned to himself.' We can't be official a tribe, a guild who calls itself a tribe though is good enough. A tribe with me as its chieftain… yes that makes perfect sense, I'll tell them later after todays slaughter.'

He raised his great axe up high and called out to his guild." Alright, we're going to destroy that flee ridden bunch of huts and then we rest for the day." That didn't elicit any cheers or signals of joy, this was their job and life now to kill and pillage till they were able to destroy the Grand Temple of Sigmar and escape the world.

/

15 minutes later

Krutz activated his axe skill as he charged, he had his great weapon in both hands and over his shoulder. As he brought the axe down on the head of marauder chieftain, who tried to block with his shield, its blade glowed a feint light. The great weapon shattered the shield of the chieftain and continued to pierce his helmet, then cleaved his head in two stopping at his collar bone. Krutz then placed his boot on the chieftains chest and wrenched his great axe free from the mob's body.

The chieftain was the last mob inside of the village and that left only the very old or the very young NPCs to be killed. Even now the players were starting to loot the meager settlement, looking for cooked meat, better weapons or coinage in the huts of the dead mobs. The largest hut though was left untouched, this was Krutz's trophy for leading the guild into another successful slaughter. There were no deaths from the players though a few marauders had paid their keep in blood, soon enough they would be replaced. Krutz pulled open the wolf skin that covered the entrance to the hut and walked inside.

The tent was not empty, there weren't children, there weren't women, but there was one…thing sitting in the middle of the hut. The thing was a cloaked man, his coverings being made of raven feathers. On his face and hands were black spiraling tattoos of insane design, but the most striking feature was his face. His face wasn't impressive in of itself, it could of belonged to any man between 40 and 60, but it was the eyes that drew Krutz in. It was not the eyes themselves, but rather his eye lids were sewn shut by strips of raw hide." Greetings Champion." The figure spoke to Krutz.

Krutz looked at the man and saw no courser or health bar above his head, after a moment of silence Krutz asked." Who are you?" The man smiled with cracked brown teeth." I have been sent as a messenger. The gods have been watching you and your trail of conquests. But if you wish to hold their gaze a while more, you must prove worthy of their attentions." A menu appeared before Krutz, it read.' _Do you accept the Path of Glory quest?_' It then listed two options 'yes' and 'no'.

Krutz looked hard at the NPC, thinking to himself.' The Path of Glory?... I like the sound of that. It must be a line of quests to becoming a more powerful chaos warrior.' He then pressed the accept button and the NPC spoke again." Good. There will soon be a test you must pass, should you survive it then the gods shall grant you a gift." Then the man started to disintegrate, floating in the air as if he was being blow by the wind." Do not disappoint the gods, for they are fickle." Then like dust in the wind the messenger disappeared.

Krutz turned around and walked out of the hut, having not participated in the looting." Oi! Oi you bunch of maniacs I've got few announcements to make!" He called out to his guild mates, who stopped or at least slowed their pillaging to listen to him." Now then before you start burning down these huts we're going to be spending the night in them. I for one am getting tired of sleeping on snow and would like to rest on some furs for once." That got approving nods from the men, the novelty of sleeping in an hostile environment never took off and the very thought of not being buried in snow while they slept was a welcomed change.

"Now then I also have to-" Krutz stopped as a screen appeared before him._' The Waste Wanderers guild challenge's The Third Wave to a battle over the territory. Battle Type-Slay the Warlord, time limit 20 minutes. Do you accept?_' Krutz looked up from the screen and at the terrain around him, a few of those near him that could see the screen looked around also. "There." Eken pointed to a hill rise overlooking the collection of huts. Krutz saw a player riding atop of a horse with a screen in front of him, it was impossible to tell any other details from half a mile away. Krutz smirked from behind his helmet." Looks like we're going to have a fight boys." Krutz then pressed the 'yes' button and a timer appeared where the screen was a moment ago. It started to count down from 60 seconds.

As the timer ticked away, the ridge line was filled with hundreds of bots and their commanders, other players like Krutz's guilders. Mostly they were on foot but there were around twenty marauder horsemen. The enemy had at least one distinct advantage besides the high ground, they outnumbered the Third Wave two to one. As the horde appeared the helmeted heads of his players turned to him, their faces were obscured so it was impossible to read their reactions. But he could feel their eyes on him, waiting for their orders… or seeing if they could run and get away with it.

Krutz then came up with a plan that was simple but high risk, he asked Gerry, who had dismounted from his horse to partake in the pillaging, a question." Gestalt do you have any idea what we should do?" Depending on how he answered Krutz knew that either his guild would leave him to his fate at the hands of the enemy with them running away, even if they stayed they could all die depending on how bad Gestalts plan went or he could survive and be victorious.

He held his breath as Gerry spoke." You stay here and defend with the most armored players, bots and the sorcerers. The faster players and bots go with me to outflank that horde when it's fighting you. You just need to hold, preferably with the players in between the huts to funnel in the enemy, till we get back." 'If you come back?' Krutz asked himself silently. For all he knew the injun bastard would run off and leave him to die, like he would do if the positions were reversed. But given his other options…." Fine take 10 of the men and their bots, be sure to get back here though because if you don't and I'm still alive I will hunt you down."

Gerry nodded and spoke." Very well, also we have to make it look like we're fighting and I'm running off. Don't kill me for this." Gerry then sucker punched Krutz, his fist driving under the man's helmet and lifting him off his feet. Krutz fell to the ground, before he could get up Gerry was pointing at players and telling them to come with him. As Gerry mounted his horse Krutz waved his hand and called out to his men." Well just don't stand there. Get your bots in between the huts." Gerry started to gallop away taking with him ten other players and over a hundred bots." Eken, Renis, Lurch get in the huts and start casting spells when the others get into combat." Krutz spoke as he stood, the timer going down to a mere ten seconds.

As his remaining players moved into position in between the tents, Eken stayed behind and asked." Um use the spells when Gerry shows up or when the other guild gets into combat. Krutz whipped around to the idiot, he had spoken clearly hadn't he?" When the other guild gets here! No mo-" The timer ran out and a message appeared above the battlefield.' **Fight!**'

Krutz formed his unit of great weapon armed marauders in the center of the collection of huts. The enemy guild charged down the hill towards the former NPC tribes home. There was no order to the charge, it was as one of the Third Wave guilder put it a 'zerg rush'. The only thing appearing close to an actual order was that the bots were placed in the front of the battle line while their masters stayed back. Apparently the Waste Wanderers had a confidence that their bots alone could finish off the remaining 13 guilders.

In a matter of moments the Wanderers crashed into the Third Wave's bots. With the tsunami of bots pressing in at one point, that should of swatted away any resistence. But Gerry's tactics held out, the enemy was funneled in between the huts so that the units were fighting one on one instead of overwhelming all of the defenders at once. The third wave players also put themselves at the front or second rank of their units so they could face the enemy bots personally giving their units an edge.

Shilas was a commander of 14 marauder bots with both him and his unit having the mark of tzeencht, giving them an advantage of a possibility to avoid damage. His bots were armed with hand weapons and shields, but he had a single hand weapon. When Shilas struck an enemy marauder he would move back and move one of his bots so that he would take the blow instead of the player. He was able to go through an entire enemy unit before they were replaced with a new one.

The Waste Wanderers then had some more brains injected into them when the Third Wave did not break. They started to move the unengaged marauders around the huts to put more pressure on the Third Wave guild. Their horsemen ran around the collection of huts using their javelins to harass the defenders, the javelins impacting against the backs of the bots. The horsemen were divided into two units of ten and galloped around the tents in counter clockwise to each other.

This stopped though when Lurch stepped out from under a tent and into the path of one of the marauder horsemen units. He then did the ritual needed to cast his spell, consisting of sticking a finger down his throat as he spoke the word "Belimios!" His jaw distended and from his throat emitted a stream of corruption. Fly's, undigested meat and bile vomited forth and covered the oncoming horsemen. Four of the horsemen fell from the disease ridden puke while the others were poisoned by the stream. The hole in the unit created by the spell allowed enough space for the Lurch to stand as the marauders rode past him. The few nicks they inflicted on the adept were regenerated quickly from the re-generation buff.

The Third Wave was not the only ones with magic though. A Waste Wanderer adept saw what the Third Wave was doing with using the huts as funnel points. He then raised his hand to the heavens, an orange spiral of wind gathering into his hand forming a small fire ball. He pulled his hand back as a pitcher would for a baseball." Ashgist!" Then he flew the ball, the flames rolling through the air towards the enemy guild. But it didn't land amongst the Third Wave, instead it crashed into a hut catching it on fire.

Renis saw the fire ball and rushed through the burning hut through to the other side, leaping over the flames as he held out his staff." Mortis Alt Re." He spoke, the staff he held being covered in inky darkness." Tentas!" He yelled and the energy's shot from his staff at the other adept in the form of black tentacles. The flame adept ducked out of the way, leaping to the side. He held up his hand and gathered a small fire ball." Ashgist!" He threw it at Renis as their duel continued.

Despite holding the lines, the Third Wave started to strain under the pressures of combat. The first unit to break was reduced to only four bots and their player. With a push from two enemy units the decimated unit was over run and their champion PKed." RAAAWWWWWRRRR!" Krutz roared and led his unit of great weapon users personally, charging into the Waste Wanderers who had broken through the ring of tents. He activated his great weapon skill, his axe held low. As his unit crashed into the marauders a warpick came crashing down at him, he swung up his axe and disemboweled a marauder in one swoop as his warpick hit his shoulder armor.

His great weapon users were slower and suffered three bot deaths, but when they brought their axes down each was a killing blow to a bot, an greatly reduced the health of the controlling player. He pushed back against his friends unit but Krutz brought his great axe down on his back, slicing his spine down the middle of his back. This didn't raise Krutz corruption, only PKing an unarmed player could do that. Then he was in combat again, the second unit that had broken through was now slicing and cutting into men. He did his best to block and brought his ax down on another bot, barely clipping him. These bots were faster than the other unit.

As Krutz blocked a strike he saw the reason, these bots were wearing purplish armor and clothes. The bots also had a linking feature; they all had the Mark of Slaanesh on their bodies. This gave the unit a benefit of extra speed combined with their duel weapons made a deadly combination. But these bots were also unafraid of anything else going on the battlefield and were programed to enjoy being struck. More of his bots died from the thousand cuts the Slaaneshie marauders were inflicting, but his unit was also taking a toll on the bots each time they were able to get in a powerful strike that pierced through armor. The slaaneshies were quick to dodge the slower attacks.

Krutz saw their algorithm though, when the bots dodged they would side step to the left or right before going in for a strike. Krutz then used the rhythm against the bots, when a bot would dodge he would activate his great weapon skill and wait for them to strike at his own bots. Then when the bot sought to strike one of his marauders he brought his axe down and killed the bot. He repeated this again and again till the enemy player ran away when it was clear that he was going to be next and wanted to live.

Along the huts the Third Wave was being broken, here and there the line was overrun and bots were getting through, players were dying at an alarming rate. Krutz dived into another enemy unit that had broken through swinging away, hating this type of killing. He didn't like fighting to the death, no there was too much danger to it. He liked to be the one ambushing a player, or even better taking his time with the player and watching their face as their life bar was reduced. Even his hope of rescue was a fading light. Gestalt had run off, he knew that the Khornate player would, it was too much of a valuable opportunity to miss it. No he was most likely watching and waiting for the battle to end and for him to join the Waste Wan-

Then a horn sounded and those fears were evaporated. It was horn belonging to Gestalts Horse Marauders and a moment later there was large warcry. The flanking force arrived just in time.

Gerry led from the front, throwing his javelin into the back of a bot, his galloping marauders doing the same. Then as he neared the back of the largest concentration of Waste Wanderers he and his unit drew their spears. Though the khronate marauders were a small unit they were armed and armored as if they were 'light knights', or better yet lancers. With a ton of flesh charging at 30 miles an hour combined with an armored man, the point of impact from the spear was a concentrated hit from a speeding car." Todays a good day to die!" Gerry hollered as his spear point leveled onto the back of a bot. The first rear rank that the lancers charged into were bashed out of the way and trampled under hoof, the second rank was impaled from the spears and due to the bonus attack the third and part of a second unit was ravaged in the charge. Yet when Gerry pulled his unit away to charge again the player controlling the unit was spared and left alive. When the player saw that there were over a hundred marauder bots coming his way he ran and when his friends saw the bots as well they pulled back.

This created a corridor in the Waste Wanders ranks that was a straight line between Krutz and their mounted leader. The corridor held even when the flankers of the Third Wave arrived, keeping the path open between the two warlords. Then Krutz heart sank as he heard what his guild mates started to chant. " Let the leaders fight! Let the Leaders Fight! **LET THE LEADERS FIGHT**!" The fighting slowed and then stopped when both sides heard the flanking force's players chant. The two guilds saw that their leaders were only a few dozen yards apart yet neither were moving towards each other, leaving the players to fight and kill each other.

The two guilds then started to yell in unison." Let the leaders fight!" Krutz looked at the Waste Wander leader and he looked back at Krutz, his face flushed with embarrassment. He had stayed out of the fight sending his bots in to fight like his guild members had done as well, but they continued to fight close to the action while he stayed behind. Krutz on the other hand had been in the thick of the fighting, his HP down to the yellow because of the damage he had taken, though in the brief moment of rest it had regenerated a little to in-between the red and green. This was also a fight to the death between the two chaos marauders, which the Waste Wander had forgotten when he made the duel request.

Krutz seized the moment and thumped his chest with his right hand fist, the fist hitting the leather armor and making a thunk sound. " I am Krutz! I am the slaughter of hundreds of lesser men! I have raided, pillaged and torched dozens of villages! I in the name of the gods I challenge you to a duel!" It was particularly fluffy speech Krutz thought, but it was one that got the attentions of the guild leader and the players. It was calling out the Waste Wanderer into an honorable duel, though he had no stake in honor, that would solidify his power and opened more options… if he survived that was.

The Waste Wanderer saw what Krutz was doing and raised up his spear." I am Benno, lord of the Waste Wanderers. I am here to challenge you at the behest of the gods!" Krutz then held his Great Axe with both hands in front of him, his legs bent." Then come at me!" He roared. Benno did so, spurring his horse underneath him and couching his spear underneath his arm. Krutz then ran at the charging warlord, his axe pulled back over his left shoulder. It seemed like Krutz was going to use his great weapon to try and one hit kill the warlord, that made sense because of his depleted health and so Benno adjusted the aim on his spear to skewer Krutz.

When they were only a few yards apart from charging, Krutz changed tactics. Instead of running at horseman, he stopped and twisted his body to be parallel to the charger, his right shoulder facing the oncoming warlord. Before Benno could awkwardly bring his spear around, it seemed like he was going to ride past Krutz. That was till Krutz unleashed a powerful attack aimed at Benno's horses knees. The attack sliced through both of the beasts left legs, the momentum from the charge carrying the horse futher till it collapsed. Benno was thrown from the saddle, he hit the ground hard and his HP was reduced to just above the yellow but still in the green.

Benno also lost more than HP, his spear and shield was also lost from the fall. Krutz saw this and started marching to the fallen warlord. Benno sat towards Krutz and saw the barbarian coming his way, he quickly equipped a sword from his inventory. Then when Krutz seemed upon him with his axe high above his head, Benno jumped back when the axe came down. He then stood and held his sword in a two handed stance. The two warlords stared at each other, seizing each other up and waiting for one or the other to attack.

Krutz shifted the grip on his axe handle, both his hands lower on the axe handle with his right on top. Benno moved his legs and held his long sword in a high guard position. Krutz was the one to break the deadlock by rushing at Benno. As Krutz brought his axe down Benno side stepped, the blow missing him completely. Benno saw his chance and brought his sword down two handedly, aiming for Krutz's neck. His hands were stopped though by Krutz left hand, griping his right wrist.

With dread Benno realized what Krutz had done. When Krutz had shifted his grip he switched skills to a single handed grip while his left hand was not quite holding onto the great weapon. The strikes from the weapon were slow and less powerful, but that meant Krutz could have a hand free to block. Krutz then threw Benno's hands up and with the threat of an attack neutralized for the moment he used his axe and swung, the blade slashing at Benno's left leg.

Benno walked back with a limp as blood ran from the digital wound, despite not feeling any pain that didn't mean there weren't any effects from the wound. Benno was slowed now and until his HP regenerated he would still feel the effect of the weaken limb. Krutz switched to a two handed skill and then charged at Benno. The Waste Wanderer then lunged with his sword, piercing through the leather armor and impaling Krutz on the blade. But Krutz kept moving and his great axe bit deep into Benno's side, doing considerably more damage than the sword had done to Krutz, sending his health bar into the red.

"You have failed the gods." Krutz spoke and then head butted Benno. Because of single attack against his unprotected head, Benno's health bar was reduced to zero. The warlord fell back, the light from his eyes diming and sword pulling out of Krutz chest as he hit the snow covered ground.

Above the battlefield a sign appeared." Congratulations Third Wave!" From the Third Wave's throats a roar of victory was heard, their bots adding to the cheers. The Waste Wanderers on the other hand started to move away and were ready to run from this place. The players who killed bots or other played then received messages saying how much XP and loot they had earned in the battle against each other. But for Krutz he received three messages.

The first message said that he had leveled up, having gained enough XP from the battle to do so. That was all well and good but he saw that there was a new ability that had been unlocked.' Tribes of the Wastes' was a feature that allowed multiple guilds join one 'tribe' lead by a chieftain. In this case it was him who had earned the right to be the chieftain of a tribe. The final message read 'A gift from the gods'. When he opened that message he felt his muscles tense and become harder, his wounds being knitted. It felt good to him, the power that flowed through his veins and gave him a slightly greater understanding of the gifts of Chaos.

He felt like a champion, that his destiny to become a god was more in reach here in this world than it was anywhere else. He was above anyone else back in his home world, but now… now he could become anything he wanted if he just took it! But the feeling, like all euphoria, passed and he was left as he was in the game world, a simple human. From the right corner of his eye he could see the cloaked figure, he turned to look at the messenger from the gods and saw him smile back. In a blink of an eye the man disappeared.

The other players didn't see the cloaked figure and instead were milling about. Krutz put an end to that." Eh! Waste Wanderers!" He called out to the enemy guild, getting their attention." I've killed Benno, your leader. If you don't want to end up like him then leave the Waste Wanderer guild and join mine instead. If you do then I'll be sure to reward you for your service and might be able to get you out of the game if you are able to survive." He would tell them about the tribe function later, first he wanted to get his own guild stronger than it once was. The Waste Wanderers, though still heavily outnumbering the Third Wave by a large margin, one by one started to join the Third Wave.

Their reasons were varied, from joining a guild who clearly had their act together, their leaders having brains and fighting with tactics that won the day, the prospect of rewards and the ultimate promise of escaping the game. As the players joined the guild Krutz walked up to Gestalt, who was still on horseback and talking to a former Waste Wanderer." I see that your enjoying yourself." Krutz spoke to the man, interrupting his conversation. Gerry turned to his boss." A little bit, especially when I saw the look on your face when the Waste Wanderers started to chant."

Krutz grunted in displeasure." No doubt that was set up by you." Gerry shrugged and said in an innocent tone." It was just convenient that my part of the guild started chanting while there was a corridor between you and Benno…. I may of mentioned an idea of what would happen if all of us started chanting for the leaders to fight." Krutz tighten his grip on the great axe, at that point in the battle if either leader was killed he would appear to be supporting the victor. Thus he would be safe from harm and retribution. Krutz hated Gestalt even more now, before the Khorne player was a valuable asset to the guild… but after saving Krutz life he had become an indispensable asset, so unless he was killed in battle or fucked up royally there was no way that Krutz could dispense with him without being bit in the ass by his own guild. He hated being in the dept of a person, especially someone like Gerry who could use this situation to his advantage.

Krutz then turned to the former Waste Wanderer, whose name was Wynona as it appeared below her health bar. She was a female slaaneshie player of average looks in her mid-twenties. She had medium length purplish black hair and body that made her clothes hang off of instead of filling in" You mind telling me what you and my second in command were talking about?"

Wynona replied, her eyes not meeting her new leaders helmet slit." I was telling him about why Benno decided to issue his challenge to you." That got Krutz attention." And the reason was?" Krutz asked, his voice filled with impatience. She gulped and looked up to Gestalt as if asking his permission. He nodded back to Wynona to continue, she looked at Krutz and spoke." We, the Waste Wanderers I mean, were about twenty miles to the south yesterday and had just cleared a dungeon. That's whem Benno just stopped in his tracks just outside of the dungeon. I was a few feet away from him and could hear him talking to someone, but I didn't hear the other person he was speaking to. I thought he had cracked from the stress of being at the front of the fight and was going crazy. That was till I could hear his tone of voice, he wasn't laughing or mumbling, he was speaking clearly to this person."

Krutz then rolled his right hand urging her to continue." And the part about why he challenged us?" He ordered. Wynona flinched before she replied." B-Benno spoke to this invisible person. He asked what was 'The Path of Glory', then asked 'Who do I need to fight?'. After a few seconds a screen showed up in front of him and I saw him press the yes button. After that a map appeared and it showed a red dot, it turned out to be this village. He then told us that there was a new plan instead of just dungeon delving, he didn't tell us anything else till he saw your group. When he saw you he said that there was going to be faction fight and… I think his words were 'that this would be a stepping stone to our escape from this hell hole of a game if we are able to take this land'."

Wynona looked on the brink of tears as Krutz stared her down with his hard glare through his helmet slit." P-please believe me, I didn't want to fight you. I-it was B-Benno's idea." Krutz held his gaze on the girl a little while longer, enjoying the sight of her squirming. He liked the feeling when it was just animals as they watched in horror, but now that he was able to do it to humans he loved the fidgeting and fear that he instilled in people.

He spoke to her." You are free to go, Gestalt find a place for her in the guild." Then Krutz eyes met Gerrys." Meet with me within an hour at the chieftains hut, we need to talk about… our working relationship and the future of the guild." Then Krutz walked away from the two marauders. He trudged through the blood covered snow towards his conquest, his hut and with his drive of conquest the first of many new lands.


	5. The Golden Wolves: Carnival

**A/N: See first chapter for disclaimer. Here is the first part of the first dedicated story arc in the story… redundant I know. Anyway we've reached over 1,000 on the story so far, woot! Now for something serious for my American readers. You know those idiots from a few years back? The ones who tried to get a bill passed that would of made FF.n, youtube and Wikipedia illegal and their users outlaws? Well guess what SOPA is back and its high time we STOPA them… bad pun but this is serious ladies and gents. If SOPA gets passed no more FF.n so no more of this story, you'll never find out who will survive my death game, who will rise to glory or if the Chaos Gods will make it to our world! Okay the last one was a stretch but again hear me out. There is a 'White House Petition' going on that you folks can check out, sign it and if it gets enough signitures then we would of stopped SOPA for at least another year.**

**To my reviewers, thank you for your reviews you kind words of encouragement help kick me into gear. But I will be responding to all future reviews that have more substance than say 'good job keep it up'.**

**Madfrog2000: Thank you for your review, the stats on who is alive will be handled later on. There will be a partial one in the next chapter but a full fledge statistical information will not be available for a few months.**

**Guest: Thank you for that suggestion. Honestly I was planning on doing that but it might be a few years before I get to that particular place in the story. Though if there was someone on FF.N and is reading this story and is interested in doing a 40K version of SAO or maybe a crossover with this fic I'll be more than willing to work with him or her on bringing it to life. They just have to be decent enough writers, open to both ideas and criticism. **

/

_The Town of Holzbeck-Grand Duchy of Middenland_

_4:37 PM December 4th__th__ 2022_

Adler yawned tiredly as he closed the book. It's title was 'The Saga's of Sigmar Vol1' and within its pages detailed the commonly known but legendary early feats of Sigmar Heldenhammer, the first Emperor and patron god of The Empire. Of course having been an avid fan of Warhammer long before this version of the Old World was his to explore and unfortunately be trapped in it, he had read the 'real' story of Sigmar. In the Gram McNeil books, Sigmar was a man who was born to a chieftain on a battlefield under the twin tailed comet. He then grew into a great warrior saving High King Kurgan Iron Fist of the dwarfs who gifted him Gharl Maraz, The Skull Splitter, the Warhammer from which this game was named after. Sigmar later attained god-hood after retiring from being the Emperor, dying as a man and then being reborn divine.

Of course though after 2,500 years the stories surrounding Sigmar had been warped and changed so much that the actual truth would never be believed by the citizens of the Empire. If they did find out the truth, such as Archeron the Everchosen had done, then they would go mad at the revelation of Sigmar being just a man with a vision…. So the stories were told and re-told, then collected into a series of volumes, of which he was reading the first one. It was a decent read and helped set his mind at ease after the past month of being in the wilderness.

After seeing his Scholar skill increase, due to reading the book, he closed the book. Adler stood up from the church pew stretching, his right hand still holding the book. He then began walking across the stone floor of the Temple of Sigmar to a door that led to the small library shelf and put the book away. Adler then left a small donation of a few silvers at the alter, then turned away and began to walk to the temple door's, pulling the wolf's head hood over his head.

Over the past few weeks in WAO he and his guild had gone through several transformations, not least of which was their appearance. After the first five days of hunting in the field, the PPS had lost four of its member's to the mobs that stalked the forests. But as these loses were mourned, especially since one was a collector and his funds were sorely missed, the guild had received an influx of players escaping Middenheim. Hundreds of players who wanted fight and level up had left the city to join up with 'Howlers', since they were being stopped by the so called 'Players Liberation Army', who were the former 'occupiers' at the gates of Middenheim.

The PLA had declared themselves the protectors of the players in the game and had built up small armies in four of the five starter cities of the Empire, save for Marianburg. The PLA had put guards at the gates of the cities, shaking down the players and forcing them to hand over all their money and weapons 'For the cause of Liberation of the Old World'. But they were more like robbers funding their own forces so they could get better equipment and get to a higher level faster than the other players. Then they gave the option to the players they were robbing, of either they joined the PLA and be able to clear the area's around the home city or they wouldn't be able to leave the city and left weaponless. The latter was for what the PLA claimed to be 'Safety for all Players' and stop players from dueling each other in the cities. But that just took away any means of protection for the trapped players.

Averheim was the worse off in that respect with apparently thousands of players had joined the PLA and were roaming the country side clearing the province of Averland. There had been a very small break out of players on the first day in Averheim, like in the other cities of the Empire, but that was limited to only a half dozen players. While Nuln was second worse off with around a thousand players in the PLA and a few score escapee clearers. Altdorf had six hundred PLA and around two hundred escapees, of which his friend Steve was part of. Finally Middenheim which had exactly 167 members of the PLA in the city while there was 534 escapee players from that city.

After PPS escape other players had repeated their actions in Middenheim, for five days there had been breakouts from Middenheim. That was till the eager players who wanted to get into the wilds of Middenland and level up were stopped by the higher leveled PLA players when their numbers ran down to the point they couldn't push through. Now Middenheim was on lockdown, no players could leave that weren't part of the PLA and only the PLA could clear the forests around Middenheim of the low level mobs.

Of the escapee players most had found their way into the PPS guild, 478 players to be precise. But with the guild ballooning in size in just a few days of being in the wilds things had to change internally. Adler and Jack had gathered together the players and announced that the PPS was going to change its name and mission. The guild would no longer be about protecting the players who could afford it, instead it was going to turn into a resistance force against the PLA so that meant no more payment to its members except in bread and securing boarding for a night. The collectors breathed a sigh of relief while their guards were up in arms. They settled down after Jack told them that they were free to leave at any time, but without any protection from the PPS if they encountered the PLA.

Adler then told the guild about some information regarding what would happen to the players who were caught by the PLA. This tidbit of info was something Steve had sent him and had been confirmed by the last group to escape Middenheim. It was that the PLA had declared all players who were outside of the capitol city walls and not part of their faction were now outlaws and could be killed on sight. At that point even the guards who had been bitching about losing money shut up. The old world had gotten a lot more dangerous in just a few days with PKing now sanctioned by the Empires strongest political faction.

That was when Adler made his second declaration. He was going to change the name of the guild from the Player Protection Service to something more befitting their new status. If they were going to be declared outlaws, wolf head's no less, then they would at least act the part. He then changed the name of the guild to the Golden Wolves.

Since that day, just under a month ago, the members of the Golden Wolves had been hunting down and using the skins of wolf mobs as cloaks over their armor and clothes. This was both for intimidation in case they encountered the PLA patrols and also to keep warm in the late November/early December weather. The Golden Wolves had been able to contain the PLA to within Middenheim and the surrounding forests with little effort and at most with a quarter of their force. They could not of taken Middenheim by force though, the city was a fortress and the PLA could shoot the Golden Wolves down as they charged up the causeway, PKing the members because they were not within the city walls.

So all that Golden Wolves could do now was to wait, while plans were made up by their leaders to take back Middenheim from the PLA. Across the Empire the Golden Wolves were not alone in their resistance against the PLA. Nuln had a budding force of underground fighters led by a man named Thinker. In Altdorf there was a very strong resistance led by three individuals, one of which was his friend Steve. The other two were unknown to Adler, they were a pair of brothers from Japan whose avatar names were Eugene and Mortimer. From what Steve had told him the pair were deadly combination of brains and brawn. The younger brother, Eugene, would be coming up north to talk face to face about liberating the cities under PLA control.

It wasn't just the citizens of the occupied city's that wanted the Empire liberated either. Surprising the biggest ally that the resistance had were not the Dwarfs, though they granted refuge to those fleeing the PLA, but rather the Skaven. The driving force for this alliance was a Skaven player, Gutter Runner and information broker named Argo. Her reasons for helping the Imperial Resistance could have been from a promise of money, hatred of the PLA or even just to see what sort of chaos she could create. Adler didn't know and Steve had been the one to meet her a few days ago, so what he knew was from him.

There was another race that the Golden Wolves were personally courting in joining the alliance. The Children of Chaos, The Horned Ones, the Beastmen. The relationship between the Resisters and the Beastmen were surprising on good terms, both sides came to an agreement early on when they met in the forest that they would attack mobs of rouge beastmen and humans but not each other. They had kept their distance from each other letting each side get their kills and even some groups working together against harder monsters. That was till three days ago when there was an organized hunt for beastmen in the south perpetrated by the PLA.

In the lands around Averland and in the Reikland there was a massive massacre of beastmen players perpetrated by the PLA. It was in their words 'To cleanse and protect The Empire from the forces of destruction'. In the north though the Golden Wolves had captured a patrol of PLA troops who planned on ambushing a beastman party. After doing some enhanced interrogations, such as reducing their HP to the red and threatening to lower it to zero, the PLA commander had cracked. He told the Golden Wolves and the beastmen that the cleansing was just to deny the resistance of a possible ally.

So they killed over 2,000 beastmen in two days. 2,000 men, women and children who were offered a 'visit' to civilization, they were offered a chance to spend a few nights without fear of being gored to death in the wilds. Lured into the towns and cities around the capitols they never knew that they walked into a trap. Players belonging to a certain faction couldn't be harmed in their own capitol city unless they were at war with another faction, but if the player was from a different faction or altogether different race that protection wasn't there unless they were allied with them. So when they were taken by surprised they had no way to defend themselves. It was becoming known as the 'Night of the Long Horns'.

This had the opposite effect the commander was told as to what would happen; this drove the remaining 7,500 beastmen closer to the resistance. But it had granted the PLA a breathing space around their cities, which were now free of Beastmen for fifty miles at least, it also glued together their army with guilt at the actions they had committed. It was a crime against humanity but one that could be said was done for the greater good for 50,000 empire players. Adler wondered if there were any hard core Tau players in the PLA if they had thought that way and if they weren't filled with insane players.

/

Adler walked out of the temple and into the town of Holzbeck. The town was fairly large in size for a town of the Empire with a round a thousand residents. The town was laid out based on the town square, and enclosed by a wooden palisade. Most of the residents lived inside of the town, for the day laborers there were apartments and for the craftsmen and merchants that could afford it they had homes within the city walls. The grounds keepers and farmers on the other hand stayed out in the fields beyond the walls, tending the fields and forests around the town. While normally its citizens would be at work or doing business, today they at rest while a carnival was in town.

The entire town had turned out to participate, there were games, shows and wild beasts for the local NPCs to be entertained by. The NPCs weren't the only ones enjoying the carnival, fifty Golden Wolves were also amongst the revelers. It was a rare time when they could enjoy themselves for at least a little while without fear. They participated in the games, laughed at the plays and skits, or watched some of the beasts with amusement.

It wasn't just pleasure that drew the players to the town, there was business to be had in Holzbeck. When he first started out in Middenheim, Adler had a short and rather bloody visit to the undercity. After a fight against a mid-boss he found in his remains a scroll. It was a tattered scroll that smelled of decay. After two weeks of being in the forests of the Empire, leveling up and getting the new players sorted out in the guild, Adler finally read the scroll. As it turned out the scroll was a list of locations and dates that the Carnival of Chaos would be traveling to.

Over the past two weeks Adler checked in on the towns that the Carinval would visit. If he arrived before the carnival arrived then the town would be still standing and filled with NPCs. But if he arrived after the carnival had passed through then the town would be deserted and no NPCs would remain, until they were regenerated after the quest was over.

Holzbeck was the last and largest town on that list. After talking to Jack and their lieutenants it was decided that a day off would be organized for the top clearers in the guild. Adler would be leading them into the town and it would be up to him to look out for them and his fault if any should die. Each of the players were above level five, including a few that were above Adlers own level nine and one that was a level eleven. The last one was a Chinese kid by the avatar name of Johan. He was 16 years old but he knew what he was doing and had decided to become a gunnery sergeant in Middenland army. From the few times that Adler seen him use his light mortar, one of the starting heavy weaponry that was unlocked for use of engineers along with a falcon cannon, it had been devastating against mob hordes. Johan had left behind the mortar back at the fort, it was too dangerous to use in the town, and instead he had with him a rare double barreled flintlock handgun and a long dagger.

The fort that Johan had left his mortar at was an abandoned Empire fortification. After finding it in the wilds ten miles outside of Middenheim in the forest, the Golden Wolves had set about rebuilding it. It turned out that building was a skill along with fighting. The former border fort then became known as 'Wolfs Den' and was the HQ of the Golden Wolves operations within the forests and around Middenheim. Behind stone walls they were safe from mobs and potential threats from the PLA.

It was also where a meeting would be held about formalizing an alliance and between the resistance and the Skaven and Beastmen. In addition to Eugene from Altdorf, the information broker Argo and Reck, the leader of the Blood Hoof a large guild of Beastmen, would also discuss the terms representing their races. From what he had learned from Steve was that there was also an additional representative, a last minute addition from Nuln named Yullier. She had just barely escaped the city, almost getting caught along the way.

Adler and Jack would be meeting them all tomorrow afternoon. At the moment Jack was leading Reck to the fort, while Pavlov was guarding against PLA Middenheimers from interfering with the meeting, Okime was leading several patrols of clearers in the forest and the last lieutenant was the teenager Jawa. He was currently holding down the fort, he was also a decent hedge mage and was interested in joining one of the Colleges of Magic when they liberated Altdorf.

/

As Adler walked through the Carnival he was struck that indeed, though they were operated by followers of Chaos, the games and shows were fun. He stopped to watch a skit that included a short fat clown chasing around even shorter halfling clowns. The retinue was fairly funny and Adler laughed at how the halflings escaped by diving underneath the fat clown. But though he chuckled at the sight, at the back of his mind was the fact that the performers were corrupted by Nurgle. Even as the sun worn down the glamour that hid the carnies true form began to falter and signs of corruption were evident on their bodies, or from the files slowly gathering around them.

There as one ride as well, back in his world he would of called it swing ride. Kids and small adults would strap themselves into the ride and then it would start turning and the force of gravity would let the riders look down above the crowds at the entire fair. It was a ride he enjoyed as a child back in New England.

Adler continued on walking through the carnival, he watched idly as a barker declared that if any man could hit the bell of the strongman test, then they would win a prize. This was demonstrated by a hooded strong man who sent the dinger up to the bell with one strike of the hammer. Adler continued on and decided to play a shooting gallery game. He used a repeater crossbow to shoot at little tin targets that appeared on a conveyer belt, he missed most of his shots since he wasn't proficient in crossbows. But had it been pistols on the other hand then things would have been different and he would of won that plated gold qubie doll!

After leaving the stall Adler checked his equipment durability for the fourth time today. He had as his first set of weapons being a brace of steel flintlock pistols, and his second set a one handed warhammer. While his steel chainmail/leather armor combo was in still, like his other equipment, was in excellent condition since he hadn't used it from the last time he had one of the Golden Wolves repair the gear.

Adler would never admit it but he was nervous. This was the first time that he had to rely on himself on looking after players, up to now he had others to help him. Jack, who had turned from would be robber to earning Adlers respect because of his leadership and combat ability's, turned out to be indispensable in helping to run the guild. He was more than competent to do Adler's job as guild master if the moment called for it, which was why he was leading the negotiations with the Beastmen. Adler himself was more of the 'get stuck in combat' sort of leader, he enjoyed fighting close to the action and barking the orders.

He considered sending out a message to the guild members present at the carnival, to remind them to meet at the square center if an event started or when the sun went down. But he stopped himself, he explained the plan to them before, twice. They would enjoy themselves for the day, eating only the food they brought with them since it was possible that the Carnies had poisoned their food, then when an event happened that made it clear the Carnival had turned to chaos they would play it safe and meet in the center square and start to fight against the denizens of the Carnival. If they were low on health they would retreat into the circle. Publically this was because they were the best players in the guild and if they started to die then it would seriously harm them, but privately Adler didn't want to see more players die that didn't have to.

For the most part the players were divided into groups of three or five, this was for both protection when the 'real' party began and to make each player more powerful working off the synergy of the group. Though the few were special cases and didn't have a group. There were several magic users and three priests in the group, two belonging to Ulric and one to Sigmar. They were low leveled though, at the stage of Acoylte and could only use a single battle prayer. They were also going to be the main damage dealers to daemons, since daemonic creatures were weaker against magic and holy prayers than just mundane weaponry. The acolytes and hedge mages were not assigned to any one group and instead were permitted to fight where there were clear daemonic monsters. After all the chances were fairly high that the camel in the petting zoo could become a beast of Nurgle in an instant, so it would come in handy to have a priest nearby to banish it.

Then as he finished walking through the carnival, the sun dipped below the town walls and from the center of the square a band started to play a jolly tune." Gather round ladies and gentlemen! The main event is about to begin!" Came a shout from the square center, rising above the din of the music. Adler walked to the square, typing out the message 'know your duty and take no chances.' He sent the message out to his party of fifty players.

/

Adler walked into the square's center. The exact center of the square was roped off for a trio of rings, at the center of which stood a sight he hadn't seen in almost a month. The figure was a tall and lanky man, he was dressed in a sickly yellow robe and green turban. His face was deathly pale as if her had recently gone through or was surviving a sickness, though he seemed in very good spirits at the moment. The Magister was now playing the role of Carnival Master." Greetings people of Holzbeck! Tonight will be the greatest show of your life!" His hands shot up to the sky and fireworks followed from around the ring.

While the show was going on Adler joined a group of three players, taking no chances with being solo just yet when the event was just starting. He nodded to them." Evening gents and lady." He bowed slightly to the only female in the group, a halberd user named Agatha. " Evening boss." She said in her thick flat Iowan accent. She was in her mid-thirties and was a soccer mom back in the real world. She had neck length brown hair, an average face and body build that was quite overweight. But that didn't matter in this world where stats were all that mattered instead of appearance. Due to the extra strength of Middenlanders and use of the halberd she was on par the same strength as a great weapon user. But she had poured her points into speed so she could now move just as fast as the sword or dagger users, this allowed her to get behind mobs and hit their weak point both easily and with a lot of power.

Her other two comrades were Jeremy and Philip. Jeremy was a player from England and was a swordsman with a shield and heavy armor. He stood at a lanky 6'4 with a slim build and arms. His face was obscured by a visor. Philip was from Canada, though by the way of his accent he was in fact French Canadian, he was a ranged player armed with a blunderbuss and a hand axe as a backup weapon. He was the opposite of Jeremy and was a stocky 5'3 with a dark beard; he could easily stand in for a dwarf if he wanted to. All three had a wolf cloak signifying that they belonged to Golden Wolves. Though they had left behind their soldiers at the Den, since it would become difficult to move within the confines of the town even without them.

"Tonight you shall experience the ultimate in entertainment! The greatest feats performed by man and beast shall be seen tonight! And so let the Carnival of Chaos begin!" Then the sound of an steam organ started with 'Merry Go Round Broke Down' and the NPC villagers cheered. But even as the NPCs celebrated and the wild beasts were brought to the three rings, the sun dipped below the horizon and the glamour was broken. In the center of the rings the carnies started their final act, the Dance of Death.

In a blink of an eye what was once thought elaborate but grotesque costumes and masks were revealed to be the true faces and bodies of the carnies. Their forms became twisted, bloated decaying hulks. The bones that were shown through the decayed flesh were yellowed and putrid. Their eyes melded into cyclopean horrors. There were screams of horror from the NPCs as they saw what was becoming of the carnies, but these screams became tenfold worse when some were taken by the carnies to now be part of the show.

A man was dragged and a gutted, his intestines serving as a rope tied around his body, then lifted up by dozens of little nurglings against the strong man test's broad. One of the strong man brutes then hit the lever at the bottom of the broad and the dinger shot up the broad. The dinger then shot through the man on the broad, exiting through his mouth and hitting the bell. NPC children were taken by a tide of nurglings their eyes plucked out and used as new targets for the target games, which Adler had participated in. An NPC woman was dragged and then strapped to a rotating target. Carnie brethren and clowns then peppered her body with throwing knives and throwing axes. With the high swing ride laughing little Nurglings cut the ropes of the swings, the poor swinger NPCs didn't stand a chance as they flew through the air impacting against the squares cobblestones or the walls boarding the squares. At the rings themselves what were once fantastical creatures transformed into daemonic monsters and started to devour NPCs.

While all of the atrocities were happening, the target recital had not changed to that of enemies. This was meant for the players of WAO to watch the horrors perpetrated by the Carnival of Chaos. But when the Carnival Master was laughing at his loudest the recital's above the head of carnies at last turned to that of enemies. It was then that the Golden Wolves, horrified by the scene which they could not stop, started to take their revenge against the carnies. It may have been a highly developed cinematic, but when you could see, hear, touch and smell as you could in real life, then it was beyond a game and there was real hatred. The murded NPCs were only highly scripted digital beings, but their deaths were as visceral as they would be in the real world.

Adler drew his warhammer and howled in hatred against the Carnival of Chaos, he then bounded and leapt at the nearest Carnie. With a powerful swing of his warhammer he knocked the once-clown off of his feet with a blow to the head. Adler followed up with another dozen strikes to the daemonic clown's body, knee capping it first followed several more powerful swings to the head, killing it eventually. As soon as he was done he was charging at another carnie, all around him his comrades following his example of barely controlled barbarianism. His fears and concerns about being left alone and vulnerable left behind as he felt a berserker rage over take him.

Shots poured into the carnies from within the ranks of the golden wolves. Groups of Nurglings were blown to pieces by blunderbuss pellets. Johann unloaded both barrels of his handgun into the chest of a strongman brute staggering him. Then a pair of shield users charged the brute and with the shield bash ability knocked him over, his hooded head hitting the edge of the strong man test broad. It was a warrior priest of Sigmar that finished the brute off." Sigmar damn all heretics!" His great hammer glowed with a pure white light as he activated the skill. He then brought his hammer down, pulping the brutes head against the broad. An almost comical ding could be heard from the bell because of the environment kill.

Jeremy held his shield out in front of him and faced a plague bearer. The daemon vomited forth a projectile of vomit aimed at the swordsman, which hit his shield but still damaged him. Before it could get in its next attack Jeremy charged with his sword, he lunged at the monster and stabbed through it. But the daemon laughed even as it had been impaled, the daemons of Nurgle were especially hard creatures to kill unless you had magic or a strong attack. Luckily for Jeremy his job was that of a tank so he could distract the mobs from the other players, including the strikers. The daemon's head was then lopped off from behind by Agatha's halberd. The Plague Bearer though wasn't dead yet, its HP only in the red, so its head continued to laugh and curse until Jeremy had finished off the monster with a strike from his sword.

While those battles were going on Adler finished his second carnie of the night when he was struck by a powerful blow to his back. He was knocked to his hands and knees, the wind knocked out of him. He turned his head to look up and see a Brute readying another swing at his body, if that struck he would be sent into the yellow health bar. He rolled away as the swing came down, the hit broke several of the cobble stones creating a small crater. Adler then rolled to a stop and drew his pistols while on his back and aimed at the Brute. He overlapped the targeting recitals at the hooded head as the brute came on, lifting his hammer over his head for another strike. Adler fired his left hand pistol, catching the brute in the head and blasting chunks of flesh from the hood, this didn't slow the giant man down. Then he fired his remaining pistol at the brutes head, an eye was popped from the bullet and the carnie's strike was interrupted, the giant staggering back.

Adler then holstered his pistols, equipping his hammer as he did so and then rolled once more into a standing position. He then powered up a skill, his hammer held low as the brute shook off the shot and started to power up a horizontal swing. Adler was the one to move first, he bounded at the brute as the carnie came at him yelling a phlegmy battle cry. Adler then leapt one last time and bent his knees landing in front of the strongman, who unleashed the side swipe attack with his hammer. The hammer head flew over Adlers head, just missing the wolf ears of his cloak. The guild master then unleashed a powerful strike right between the gonads of the brute. Apparently the game designers had added an actual weak point in men into the game. The brute doubled over in clear pain that even with its Nurgle 'blessed' body still felt it.

Adler then took that opportunity while the strong man was stunned to twirl into a stand and with the kinetic energy of the twirl, slammed the spiked part of his hammer into the brute's skull. The demonic strong man though was still hovering in-between red and yellow." Hey! Y'all going to give me a hand here!" Adler shouted as he pulled his hammer's spike from the brutes head. His cry for help was answered by a golden wolf knife user. The dagger girl fell onto the back of the brute, embedding a pair of daggers into its back and holding on to them. The brute was on its knees and back straight as it tried to reach around and dislodge the attacker with its arms. The attack sent the brute into the red of its health bar. Adler then swung his hammer and cracked it against the strong man's forehead, his HP dropped to zero. The brute then collapsed forward and he saluted the girl." And extra gold piece to you miss."

Before she could reply Adler was once again on the move. Within a few steps though he felt some of the adrenaline leave work its way through his system, then he felt a few broken ribs in his chest where the strong man at hit him. He wheezed out a yell." Healer!" It took a moment, during which Adler started to re-load his pistols, but a hedge mage arrived who specialized in healing magic. The hedge maze then spoke, his right hand holding a glowing green wooden staff." Ghyran." He pressed the staff to Adler's back and he could feel his bones being knitted, his breathing returning to normal. " Thanks." Adler spoke to the hedge mage as he stood." No problem sir." The mage was then off to heal any other player while he still had AP, Adler's pistols were reloaded as well.

Adler then took a moment to study the battles raging around him. Players were working together bringing down the lesser mods, circling, shooting and stabbing them. They were winning but that left the boss and his beasts. The Magister himself was a sorcerer, a daemonic infused sorcerer but still a human, his adds on the other hand though were far from human. The add's were in the form of beasts of Nurgle. Each of the beasts had the appearance of a sickly and mottled pallid slug with a face of withering tentacles. It was covered in sores and dripping with puss and ichor, and its claws were grotesquely misshapen. Its maw hung open and out of it hangs a slimy, stomach churning tongue.

They were unengaged but the Magister was casting buffs on his carnies and the occasional offensive spell at the Golden Wolves. Adler looked around and took in what forces of the golden wolves were not fighting or were finishing off mobs. A pair of priests of Ulric were tag teaming a Plague Bearer, they would soon be finished with it. Johan was reloading his handgun and another warrior priest was healing a player. The group he first met were midway through a clown mob.

Adler breathed in and closed his eyes, concentrating on what to do for his next move. He pulled himself away from the chaos all around him… then he opened his eyes. He strode forward towards the clown mob, barking out orders as he went." Johan, soon as your done reloading follow me! Baldur, finish up with your friend we got bigger fiends to fry! Sarah your going to be needed in a minute after your done with healing him. You three-" He brought his hammer down in a deadly arc onto the daemon clown, ending the fight between Agatha's group and the mob with its destruction." Come with me now, were going to start taking on the beasts."

He didn't wait for their reply instead he walked towards the rings, activating his skill with his war hammer. The beasts stayed within their rings, but had a long reach with their… neck/head with a chomping attack that went outside of their ring and protected the carnival master. So attacking the magister directly was out of the question, instead the main focus was on the beast of Nurgle. Adler brought his hammer down on a beasts head when it tried to attack him, but he was just out of its chomping range. The hammer head impacted against the creatures eye, bruising it.

The beast had taken a sliver of damage from the attack, apparently it could resist blunt damage. So Adler drew both of his pistols and shot the beast in its eyes, doing ten percent of damage onto its first of three health bars. Adler then stepped back to reload his flint locks. The magister then started to cast a spell, a buff for the beast or a debuff against Adler. He wasn't able to finish his spell since he was interrupted by a shot to the chest delivered by Johan. The shot took off eight percent of the magister's first of two health bars.

Agatha and Jeremy then showed up and began attacking the beast that Adler had shot. Jeremy would get the Beasts attention with a slash, then he would block against its attack with his shield." Switch!" He shouted and Agatha would take his place to attack the Beast. After she had made the attack she shouted." Switch!" Then Jeremy would use his shield to take the blow and get in another attack. The pair repeated the process as Philip distracted the additional beasts and the boss with a scatter shot from his blunderbuss. The damage was negligible but it caused the Beasts to not pay attention to the main attackers and interrupt the boss in the middle of another casting.

Then the three priests showed up and started to hammer on the first beast with their holy infused weaponry. Even the Sigmarites great hammer was doing as much damage as the Ulrican's axe since the hammer was, if only temporary, a magical weapon which did more damage against the daemon. In fact with the Carnival Master being interrupted by gun fire the Beasts HP was dropping fast and soon it was killed. This should have been a moment of joy after all with the monster dead it meant one last enemy they had to worry about before getting to the Carnival Master. This was not so.

When the beast died the Carnival Master's health jumped back to full, his body becoming bloated with daemonic energy, and he did two uninterruptable actions. The first was to shout aloud." Send in the clowns!" A pair of small covered carts then careened into the square. From under the coverings Plague Bearers dressed as clowns disgorged from the carts, over a score of them from only a small pair of carts this seemed impossible. The vast majority of the Golden Wolves then fought against the new arrivals, leaving the seven lone warriors to fight against the boss and his Adds.

The boss as it turned out though still had a few tricks from up its sleeves. He then cast a spell, an AoE spell, that emanated from his body. It was a tide of fly's that shot out and did little bits of damage to the players, but it also distracted them and caused the players to involuntary try and get the fly's off their bodies. It was an unnatural feeling to have creepy crawlies over your body in both the real world and here in the fantasy simulation. With them wearing the wolf cloaks it was almost like watching dogs scratching at flees.

The beasts used the distraction to launch attacks against the players, chomping, slashing or bashing them. Their health dropped dangerously low into the yellow because of the attacks the beasts had made. Even Johan who was outside of the AoE was affected when the Carnival Master shot him with a pistol, the shot was to the chest and started draining his health from a poisoned affect.

Adler coughed up a bug and took stock of the situation. His comrades and he were in the yellow of their health bars, himself a little bit short on the green side. But the enemy boss was still in the green and if they killed the beasts, the boss would regenerate from the beasts death and more Adds would show up. The Golden Wolves could not afford to have a party wipe out, not of its top clearers. But one player killed though… one was enough." Heal me." He said to the Sigmarite priest, and then a moment later he added." I'm going to kill that damn sorcerer."

The priest then started to pray to Sigmar and her hand glowed a golden light, as he touched Adler the guild masters HP went into the green. Adler cocked both of his pistols." Keep the beasts occupied you lot! I don't want my ass to be dinner for some beastie of Grandpa Nurgle!" Before anyone could object Adler was running at the Carnival Master. The carnival master saw this and started to cast a spell, his casting was not interrupted by a shot to the chest delivered by Adler's left hand pistol, its body absorbing the blow. A stream of corruption shot from the Carnival Masters mouth at Adler. The Golden Wolf twisted to the left, his back to the stream of corruption, then he raised his remaining pistol and shot magister in the head. This had done more considerable amount of damaged to the carnival master then chest shots. 15 percent of its top health bar dropped down and the bullet hole was still in it's the forehead.

Adler then drew his trusty warhammer and held it two handedly as he charged at the magister. The warhammer, unlike the sword or spear, was designed to be a shock weapon not a defensive type. It was to be precise a glorified club that could unhorse a knight in a single blow and break his bones. It was meant to be used offensively and that was how Adler liked to fight.

He held the warhammer over his right shoulder activating a hammer skill as he ran. The Magister drew a dagger at his side to defend himself. Adler gave a war cry, not the mindless howl he had made when he escaped from Middenheim, but rather a more controlled version and with actual words." Hail Sigmar!" He then brought his warhammer down sideways onto the magisters left knee, both shattering it and knocking him off his feet. Adler then held his hammer over his left shoulder." Ulric damn you!" He brought the warhammer down again, smashing the carnival masters other knee.

The carnival master then cast another stream of corruption at Adlers face. It impacted against his eyes and blinded him, knocking his HP down. But Adler was having a fit of rage that would of made even a Norscan berserker proud. He lifted his hammer above his head and activated a powerful downward strike. He gave a wolves howl in hatred, in blindness and in fanaticism. He brought his hammer down on the Carnival Masters head, then again, then again, then again….

/

Adler snapped out of his berserkergang when he was pulled off his feet by a Sigmarite and Ulrican warrior priests." Whoa boss calm down now." One of them spoke, Adler tried to still fight them he had a boss to kill." Hey he's right. You turned the Carnival Master in hamburger." Adler panted and looked down towards the remains of the carnival master. The warrior priest was right on the mark when he said Adler had turned the boss into hamburger. Its body was pounded and misshapen, flatten against the cobble stone square.

"H-how long have I been doing that?" He asked the warrior priests. The one of the right, a woman named Sarah with a full head of hair unlike her male counterpart who was bald, replied." From when you started the actual boss fight or when you decided to see if you could be a butcher someday?"

" How long had it been since I solo'ed the boss?" Adler asked, finally catching his breath. The Ulrican warrior priest named Baldur on the left spoke." Twenty minutes, fifteen of which you've been pounding patties." Adler nodded." Thank you two… I'm fine now, let me up please." They let go of him and he stood up. He was pleasantly surprised to see a message waiting for him.' **Congratulations: Last Attack Bonus.**' He then opened up the menu and saw that he had gained the '**Pistol of Nurgals Corruption**'. Adler huffed." Vendor trash." And put it into his inventory. He didn't want to use a weapon with the word corruption in it, it might of made his karma meter go down into the evil half if her used it. He planned on being a decent player and not to fall into the lower of the corruption meter, especially if he wanted to match to the north and destroy the Chaos Gate. Adler then looked beyond his screen and to the square around him.

Obliviously the golden wolves had won this battle, the carnival was defeated none of the daemonic carnies remained and his wolves were burning their stalls and clown carts. Adler opened up his menu and checked on how many players were still alive, after a fight like that there had to of been at least on-. He stopped thinking as he scrolled through the rolls of who was in this party. It was impossible… all of them….

No one had died in the battle of Holzbeck. This stunned Adler, after all that had happen in the mass fight with scores of players, no one had died. That didn't mean they didn't come close to loosing people, there were plenty of red health bars to go around. But still… he just couldn't believe it." Wow." He spoke the single word to himself, the only way he thought he could express his opinion on it. He then changed his screen to a separate one, which displayed his personal stats.

He saw that he was at level ten now and he moved his skill points around, investing them into appropriate slots. As he closed out the menu, a pop up appeared and he was given the option to join a profession. Adler was tempted to do so, it would give him additional skills and open up profession only quests. He closed the menu, the option was always there though. He would take the option eventually, once Moddenheim had fallen to his Golden Wolves. But till then he would stay out of the professions, despite the temptations. Though he was seriously looking into joining the Witch Hunters or State Army as his profession.

He closed the screen and then said to the two warrior priests." See about healing and helping others onto their feet. I'm going to make an announcement in a minute." And so they did and he made his announcement. The group of Golden Wolves were now going to move out in thirty minutes to allow for HP regeneration, they would rest and then leave for the Den. The Wolves would rest till their next hunt.


	6. The Golden Wolves: The Den

**A/N: See first chapter for disclaimer. Hey folks Blinded in the Bolthole has raised an interesting point in the story about the lack of the SAO cast. This is because I don't want to ruin their characters because they will most likely be going OOC, when they do show up I'll try to write them as best I can but there will be huge gaps as to their stories where they won't show up for months at a time. I plan on making Omake chapters but they may not be canon to this story. Though if anyone is willing to and has the drive to create a fic based off this version of SAO, which does feature the SAO cast heavily, filling in the blanks as it were, I will be more than welcomed to help them and may even do that as a co-authored story. **

**Also check out my DA page to see the Border Fort that served as the Den.**

**And now time to answer my reviewers**

**Madfrog2000: Yes I've included characters from ALO and one from GGO which will be showing up later, this is because with the larger number of Nerve Gear available more people would be able to play if that wouldn't of been able to in the original SAO. The rest of your review I can't reply to because we'll be handling it in the next few chapters.**

**Blinded in the Bolt Hole: Thank you for your reviews. Now then I want to talk about some of the some of the things you brought up, though I can't answer all of them.**

**Chapter 1 Review: It's true that the players do need to fight to get to the exits and that does include special characters and armies being there to stop them…. As well as player armies who want to stop them.**

**Chapter 2 Review: Eeyup I wanted to have a group of Empire Players that were themselves questionable barbaric, especially in comparison to the 'civilized' cities of the Empire.**

**Chapter 3 Review: Well you hit the nail on the head with Kirito and Asuna. With that little murder… it's an interesting thought that I will expand upon later. And the extra equipment bit… in the book Blood Claw by William King it features an Ork pissing on a young Ragnar Blackmane while the ork was standing and with an unbuttoned fly, so its safe to assume they have at least a phallus at least. Ah yes Klein that will be explored once we get back to the dwarfs arc.**

**Chapter 4 Review: That's why I have Gerry and Wynona as some of the sane players and a surprise character from the original SAO as well.**

**Chapter 5 Review: Thinker wasn't in the PLA, even when they were trying to be the (in their own minds) decent guys. The reason why I had the Golden Wolves declared outlaws I will discuss in this chapter as well as several other points in this chapter. The Golden Wolves (former PPS) could but as I mentioned it would be a blood bath trying to take it… Middenheim is a fortress that has fallen only once and that was to Grom the Paunch with an uncounted tide of orcs and goblins. So even with thousands of bots leading the way the Golden Wolves would be facing dozens of great cannons and thousands of other bots.**

** FF.N Reveiwers who have been asking about Kirito: I will involve our spear-ears friends in a couple of chapters or an omake.**

**Also to the SAO fans that are coming to read this story and don't know much about the Warhammer fantasy universe. Look up a site called Lexicanum and check out the fantasy section, it's a wiki dedicated to Warhammer Fantasy and 40K. It's a starting point in case you have questions about the Warhammer Old World.**

**Now on to the story!**

/

_The Den  
10:20 AM December 5__th__ 2022_

Rufus Adler was sitting atop the Den's stone tower reading a book as he relaxed in a lawn chair. The fact that it was very lightly snowing and below freezing didn't bother him because he wrapped in animal pelts. After all of the excitement from yesterday he was going to be taking it easy till the diplomats arrived. They were all planning on showing up at around the same time in another ten minutes, apparently that was Jack doing to co-ordinate it and Adler didn't mind.

He was not alone in the den, the fifty players who had joined him the day before in Holzbeck were resting and enjoying the little moments of peace the fort had brought them. As it turned out the vacation/raid had turned out to be a good thing for the group because they were flushed with loot and cash. They had spent it on 'luxury' items such as new lounge clothes, sweets and actually good alcohol that didn't taste like donkey piss. Even Adler had joined in and bought a collection of books called 'The Important Milestones of the Time of Three Emperors' which was a twenty volume set describing the battles and politics of the 1000 year civil war that gripped the Empire. This was partially funded by his sale of the LA Bonus item, it commanded a pretty penny when he barter it away. Even with all the luxuries and good cheer after yesterday, it was doubled when they had brought home full numbers.

The fifty golden wolves were camped out at the bottom of the tower, inside of the fort walls. It was somewhat crowded for them to be packed into there but with the press of bodies and warmth of fires it was at least comfortable. There was singing, or the attempt to, jokes and from the occasional squeal of pleasure it sounded like a girl was getting it on with another lucky player in a tent.

But it was not all fun and games, along the ramparts were guards walking along the stone walls keeping an eye out for a rouge bandit mob-bots raider or the Beastmen counterparts. Along each of the walls were 4 swivel guns, bought from the golden wolves coffers, these could be used by any player though the more engineer inclined had an easier time reloading them. At each of the forts three corners was a small triangular bastion, there was enough room for a cannon on each but as it stood this Golden Wolves group only had a small mortar and they could use that to fire over the walls anywhere in the fort. Then there was the player's own bots that were camped around the fort , something on the order of around 500 bots, not very much considering there were over fifty players at the Den. But then again like Adler there were players who didn't choose a profession just yet and even then unless they went the path of a soldier they wouldn't be able to recruit troopers or other bots till they were at a higher level, like 10 or 20.

Today though the guards, who were players, were more concerned about the diplomats then they were about raids by the PLA or bot-mobs. Around the fort for a good five miles there were Golden Wolves patrols, around 100 wolves were doing that. While the other 300 guild members were beyond the area around the Den, some as far as 60 miles away and with at least one patrol in Hochland. They were level grinding and completing quests, since they needed to get stronger if they were ever to march north and destroy the Chaos Gate.

That was a mission that set them apart from the PLA….

From below Adler heard one of the guard's cry out." Yo, the other guild guys are showing up!" Adler then stood up, putting the book back into his inventory, the animal pelts shedding from his skin. He then walked to the towers edge and looked out to the tree line 300 yards away. Emerging from the forest was a procession of 25 people, around half were actually human. There were ten human guards, five wearing wolf cloaks and blue and white clothes, the other five wore red and black uniforms with steel cuirasses. The Golden Wolves were armed with a mix of weaponry and armor styles, while the five Reiklanders had swords and shields. There were also three other individuals amongst humans that he could pick out, but the details he wouldn't be able to see till they got in the fort.

The non-humans were more unique in their appearance. The beastmen varied in their height armor and appearance, the largest of which was a minotaur and smallest was an ungor. The skaven were more universal in their height, which was just short of average for human women, they wore black cloaks that covered their bodies and hid whatever was beneath them.

The guards were looking at them as well. Adler took in a deep breath before he shouted down to the golden wolves." Oi! You mangy dogs, get your selves in some proper order! You don't want to think we're flee bitten currs do ya!" Beneath the tower the camp exploded in activity as players got ready to receive the guests. They put away their food, put on their armor, or in the case of two wolves their clothes. All wore their wolf cloaks of course, after so many weeks it was like putting on a pair of shoes. It was natural.

While all this was going on Adler had to prepare to receive his guests his own way, so as he descended the stairs he put on an outfit that… fit him.

/

When Adler reached the top of the stairs at the entrance to the tower, he had changed his clothes. Well actually taken them off to be more precise. From the waist up he was shirtless, his chest, which was not chiseled or flappy and would have been described as healthy, was covered in tattoos. The Nerve Gear could scan the face well enough and indeed it could tell the height and body type due to the calibration that the players had to do before playing the game. But it could not scan what was on the body.

In the real world Adler had inked himself with warhammer and 40k inspired tat's. Since coming to this world he had them reapplied with the help of a tattoo artists within the Golden Wolves. Above his left breast was a black wolves head facing towards his right, it was the icon of Ragnar Blackmane without the yellow field, a symbol as a Space Wolf player. The second tattoo on his chest was on his right breast which was a Teutonic cross, this had different connotations because of his own ancestry, but for Adler it meant more to him as an Empire player than anything else. On his right shoulder was the Imperial Aquila with the words 'Cadian 91st' in gothic script and on his left shoulder was a dwarf shield with a stylized metal dwarfen face of Grungi on it. These symbolized his allegiances to the Imperial Guard and Warhammer dwarfs… or if GW had ever gotten around to it the Squats.

He wore a wolf cloak with the hood over his head, then a pair of tan hide breeches and to top it off he had a pair of fur lined boots. At his hip was his warhammer and across his waist was his brace of pistols. Add into that his burnsides he looked for all intents and purposes like a barbarian warlord.

Adler watched the diplomatic party get closer to the fort." Open the gates!" Adler shouted, a golden wolf then turned the mechanism and the gate slowly opened. As it did so the Golden Wolves not on guard duty formed up on either side of the gates their weapons out and in a salute. It was choreographed last night and early this morning to make an impression on their guests.

Adler watched them as they neared, he could pick out details now that they were closer. Leading the procession was Jack and his five guards. He was dressed in something more appropriate to the weather than Adler was. Jack was dressed in an officer's uniform of the army of Middenland, it was a fancy uniform that was tight to his body with threads of gold through the blue portions of the uniform. He wore a steel breast plate and had a sword at his side, his crossbow over his shoulder on a sling. While on his back was his own wolf cloak, which was done in a fashion of a cape, and on his head was a blue wide brimmed hat with blue and yellow ostrich feathers. He was in effect the staple boy of the Empire in appearance.

Next to him was a woman in her mid or earl twenties with silver dyed hair. She had Asian features and wore a rather simple black and white uniform of a low ranking Imperial soldier. On her hips she had a brace of not one but two, double barreled flint locks! This had to of been Yullier of Nuln.

To the right of them both was Eugene of Altdorf. He was a big man dressed in a common soldier's uniform, just colored red and black, under his heavy steel cuirass with tassets and shoulder guards. Under his arm was a salet helm and over his shoulders was a red cape. On his back was a great sword and his face… Adler was struck by the similarity between it and a classic anime character. He looked just like Guts from Berserk.

Moving on from the humans there was the Beastmen. At the head of the party was Reck of the Bloody Hoof. He was a heavily armored gor with twin hand axes, his fur was a dark brown and hair a stock of dark hair from his head. Behind him though was a more interesting specimen of Beastmen kind. To be specific though it was not so much a beast_man_ as it was a beast_woman_. She was tall about seven and half feet tall as befitted a minotaur, her body was covered with light brown fur and had long blonde hair down to the mid of her back. The hair was done up in braids and it framed a pair of blue eyes. She was most defiantly a woman from the curves of her hips and rather large bust which was barely contained in leather lined chainmail bikini. On her back was huge great axe just a head shorter than Adler's height with a broad blade. As he looked at her he knew the old adage of Tauren women being hot was true!

Finishing off the last of the groups were the skaven. Like before it was difficult to tell them apart with them wearing the same dark cloaks so he couldn't tell which one was Argo…. No that wasn't true, there was one that stood out with a brown cloak and more lithe form. That was the female, that was Argo.

As Jack was passing through the bot camp, a golden wolf started to play out 'British Grenadiers'. It was a relatively simple beat, but it was also good as a single Instrument melody. It was also preferably better than Dixie for greeting diplomats, though considering that they were the 'rebels' that was a hard choice to make. But it served its purpose as a formal welcoming.

As the procession entered the fort Adler could see some of the guards faces, including Recks, light up at the formal salute. They had most likely seen news clips of their own presidents or prime ministers get the same treatment when they visited foreign nations. So this was a special treat to be treated with the same dignity as their own leaders… since they were now leaders in their own right of their factions.

When Jack reached the bottem of the towers stairs Adler raised up his right hand to silence the drummer. Adler then gave a speech, which he really hated to do." Greetings and welcome representatives of the Empire and its Allies, I am Adler the Guildmaster of the Golden Wolves and your fellow freedom fighter. I welcome you to the Den. I will hope that your stay here will be both relaxing and productive." He bowed to them after the short speech, laying on the last bit of theatrics. They were trapped in an RPG might as well play up the Role part since they were going to be stuck here for Sigmar knew long.

There was polite clapping by the representatives and their guards. Adler stood up straight and said." If the representatives would please follow me we may begin talks." He then turned on his heal and opened the door to the tower. He walked into the tower and the others followed.

/

In the base of the tower there was a round table with seats for each of the representatives, in the middle was a trio of water pitchers, with glass ware and large plate of white bread rolls. Adler took a seat across from the door way as the others fell in, pulling the hood off his head. To his immediate left sat Reck and to his left was Yullier. While to his right sat Eugene and to the Reiklander's right sat Argo, who was dwarfed by the human. Argo had shed her brown cloak and Adler was surprised by how old she was.

Despite being in the half human form of a skaven, with which she shared many similarities from the rates tail to muzzle and ears, Adler could tell that Argo was still a teenager. She was in her middle teen years, 16 by his guess, with a light brown coat of fur on her body and a darker mess of hair on her head, the rest of her body covered in clothes. The most distinguishing trait though were her dark, dark whiskers on her muzzle which were quite a bit more noticeable than normal Skaven.

Jack then took the last chair that was by the door, closing it before sitting down. When he sat Argo spoke to the representatives." Now that the theatrics are out of the way I would like to discuss the first order of business and that is the manner of our alliance." She paused a moment for his words to sink in." As you know all know the PLA has been committing atrocities-" Reck snorted irritably." More like crimes against humanity." No one argued against him, especially after The Night of the Long Horns. Argo continued." Crimes against humanity and because of their actions, misguided as they are, they must still be stopped. Are we in agreement about this?"

The heads bobbed along the table, it was a smart move on her part to start off the meeting with something they could agree on happening. It gave the group common ground to base their decisions on. Argo then spoke again." Good, now then before we go into the specifics about the coming fights and possible border disputes-" She inclined her head to Recks, who sat with his arms crossed and with his brow furrow." I have some new information that I will share with you… free of charge of course." She smiled mischievously, in addition to a diplomat she was an information broker and her mind was always looking at ways to squeeze every copper out of her clients.

"None of it is much good for us though." Her smile disappeared." The PLA are going to start a select probation period for the players in their cities. The players will be allowed to leave the city's and will be taxed each time they come back to the city, half their equipment and money they make out in the field to be exact. Their also going to set up a bounty for beastmen players as an enticement for players to PK and get their 'evil' meter higher. They are going to plan on making the announcement on the 8th."

Each of the representatives took that bit of info a different way. Eugene took the news with a grunt of disappointment, Yulliers expression was stoic but her hands clenched into fists, while Adler and Jack silently listen and waited for her to continue. For the human players that meant their resistance would be losing legitimacy as players who were welcoming to any player who wanted to level up. For the golden wolves that wasn't so much a problem because of having hundreds of players in their ranks, but for Altdorf and Nuln they had much smaller forces.

The one not to stay silent was Reck, he stood up knocking back the chair he was sitting on." Those bastards! They don't even care if we're human! They want to commit genocide! I'll kill them, I'll fucking kill them all!" He roared angrily, his eyes filled with bestial rage.

Argo let him fume for a few moments before continuing." Yes, they need to be stopped from that announcement. But unfortunately we can't kill them all." Reck turned his shaggy head to her." Why can't we just kill them?"

Adler answered before Argo could." That would give them more reason to go after your people Reck. You can declare war against any faction, any beastman warlord can at any time. But if you do then the entire population of the faction you declare war on will be your enemy. This includes innocents as well as the PLA bastards. You would then have to destroy their city, that means going up against prepared defenses with limited siege weapons. Your own army has to be at least three or four times the size to fight a siege, that's historical fact and even with magic or ferocity that won't give you to much of an advantage. Even if you could win, the sack of a single city would turn their populations against you and the fence sitters would be firmly in the camp of the PLA."

Every point Adler made was sharp and each time he made one, it was like a jab against Reck that pushed him back into his chair, which was politely pushed back up by Argo. Recks rage left him and he looked depress, his voice was that of a defeated being." Then what do you think we should do?"

Argo was the one to respond to the question." Let the human's sort out their own problems. Let them take back their cities."

Eugene then spoke, his hands linked behind his head." I don't know if you noticed but we haven't got many fighters, around 800 at last count. The PLA have around that in Altdorf alone and outnumber us everywhere… Averheim isn't even worth considering." The capitol of Averland had become the PLA's own capitol city with something on the order of 3,000 PLA soldiers, over a third of the starter population of Averland. Yullier winced, after Averheim her home city of Nuln had the second largest contingent of PLA troops with around 900 of their kind patrolling the streets.

The Rat nodded her head." That's true but the PLA doesn't outnumber us everywhere. I do believe the Middenlanders have them outnumbered here?" That was directed to the two Golden Wolves in the room.

Jack answered her." Yes ma'am, we have at last count 476 players in our ranks." Adler stiffened." We lost two on patrols last night?"

Jack nodded." Yes we did… haven't checked the roster today I take it?" Adler sighed, he was the guild master, he needed to keep watch on things like that.

"Anyway." Argo began." You outnumber the PLA in Middenheim by nearly three to one correct?" The two guild leaders nodded their heads.

Jack spoke." Since we were able to catch most of the collectors and give them a bloody nose when they were just the Occupy Middenheim, their recruitment promises had never been as good as ours. They've been more or less locked into the Middenheim ever since and just barely kept the city under their thumb."

The PLA had been able to keep in control of their cities by fear and intimidation. They had some master propagandists amongst their group and had been justifying their actions, ever since they came to power, to the people of the Empire. The shake down of collectors at the gates of the citys? It was to gather funds for the collective of players to be distributed evenly and to clearers. The reason why the escapees were declared outlaws? Because they were greedy rich people fleeing from the proper authorities or they were rouge fighters who would rob the simple innocent players. The reason why the gates were shut to those who wanted to level up except for the PLA members? Because they didn't want people to lose their lives needlessly in the wilds of the Empire, while the PLA selflessly put themselves on the frontlines defending the citizens of the Empire. With the last one Argo had to begrudgingly agree that this game was deadly, but this was an attrition based game with wars being part of the back story. From the fragmented data she was able to collect from 6 out of 11 player races there had been over 18,000 player deaths and that number would rocket up even higher if she could find out more of the races she hadn't been in contact with.

Even the bloody massacre of the Night of the Long Horns was explained away. The reason given was that the Beastmen players, who were invited to stay in the cities under the PLA control, had actually planned on doing their own massacre of the Empire players declaring war on them at the same time to topple the Empire. The real reason why the Beastmen were massacred while defenseless was because it hurtled the PLA and especially Averland towards the evil side of their karma meter, then they could destroy the Grand Temple of Sigmar and be able to leave the game… the only faction to be able to do that leaving the others behind so early. It was twisted logic but still it had points to it.

The vast majority of Empire players though didn't believe the PLA. This was partly because they had been raised in a world of skepticism and that the Golden Wolves had become the poster child of what the PLA had become. The Golden Wolves had put their own spin on what was happening in the Empire, able to transmit stories of their exploits to players who had access to printing presses inside of their cities. The Golden Wolves had played up the role of lovable rouges and patriotic freedom fighters. In the news stories they had published it was told of how they went about how escaping from the PLA, or ambushing their patrols and sometimes throwing in an amusing side action. Then there was the quests and mob-bot battles which were always blown out of proportion. Though after last night's quest it was going to be hard topping that with additional fantasy in a newspaper. Then there were the leaders of the Golden Wolves as well, a pair of charismatic characters who sought only to complete good quests. The almost Beastman like barbarian, yet decent leader, Adler and his second in command the suave tactician Jack.

But despite all the counter propaganda the PLA still had enough followers who wished and desperately wanted to escape the game. They would allow themselves to believe the lies that they were told or were telling themselves, so long as it gave them comfort and hope. When Adler came to that realization he was reminded of an old Warhammer 40k quote.' The first step on the road of disappointment is hope'. Then again it depended on who was giving that hope and if they had the actual means to achieve it. If the hope giver did have the means then he was a savior, if he didn't then he may as well be a tyrant. Adler wanted to believe that his faction had the means to achieve its dreams.

Argo smiled." Then there's your answer, the Golden Wolves can loan Altdorf and Nuln about half their people and still have enough to take back Middenheim." Jack shifted uncomfortable before saying." That's all well and good Argo but how do you plan on-" He was interrupted by Adler laughing. The representatives shifted their questioning gaze to him, but Argo's was filled with amusement because she knew what he was about to say.

"We don't need to fight them toe to toe with our entire guild Jack. Not even 200 of our boys and girls would be needed. Not when we have The Rat to show us the way in the undercity." Adler spoke with a slight chuckle. Argo smirked evilly." Well I can show you the entrance to the Undercity through 'The Under Empire' but specific directions will cost you." Adlers laughing stopped but the corner of his mouth were still up turned." How much?" He asked the skaven player.

"500 Gold pieces for the map info." Argo told him. Eugene, Yullier and Recks blanched at the cost. It was enough money to outfit scores of low level players short of specially crafted and low level magic items. Adler though didn't even bat an eye." Done." He then opened his menu and within a couple of clicks a bag filled with 500 gold appeared on the table in front of him. He then handed it over to Argo, she took the gold and then opened up her own menu and traded the map of the undercity with Adler.

Adler looked it over and nodded at its detail finding it to beyond the quality of a simple point A to point B map. The person who had recorded this map explored a huge portion of the Undercity before sending it to the information broker.

"That helps the Middenlanders, but how does that help the Nuln people? Even if they get all of the extra Golden Wolves that still wouldn't be enough to liberate their city." Eugene spoke, his hands now moved to the table.

Yullier looked mortified, even with the additional help coming her way it seemed that the Nuln resistance was doomed to failure. Argo continued to smile." You man-things think you will be having all the action? It's true that it'll be up to you to _publically_ take your cities back. But that doesn't mean that the Skaven, especially Clan Twisted Whisker won't help you. We will be in the shadows running subterfuge."

Yullier's expression didn't seem to improve." But still, what edge do we have over the PLA besides subterfuge?" Argo then turned away from Yullier to look at Adler." Mister Historian, any ideas come to mind about past resistance movements?"

Adler cupped his chin in thought. The big resistance movement that came to mind was the partisans of World War 2. He focused on the French underground, what tactics and strategy's they used against the Nazi's. But it wasn't either of them that helped liberate France, it was logistics and…. He looked up at Yulliers pistols. He pointed at the brace." How much did those cost?" Yullier looked down at where he was pointing and saw his finger pointing at his pistols." They cost 25 gold a piece, why?"

Adler opened his menu and spoke." Because I plan on outfitting your entire resistance army with a brace of them. How many people are in your guild and how many have those pistols." Yulliers eyes weren't the only pair to go wide, all around the table, including Jack, the players were shocked at how much money Adler was willing to give away. Yullier spoke, her mouth dry." 9-98, only me and Thinker have them… can you really afford that?" Jack spoke as well." Can we boss?"

Adler nodded and a huge sack of gold appeared on the table, it was larger than Argo and weighed a lot more." Yes, though we can say goodbye to half our treasury." Yullier took the gold and put it into her inventory, she then asked." After we get the pistols what then?" Adler then leaned back and smirked." You probably never heard of this in your history class, very few people know about it actually besides the US and European countries who fought in World War 2 and that's mainly because of a gun shows or history programs on TV. But during the war in the occupied countries the Allies would drop supplies to the partisans. In these supply drops there was a little single shot pistol called 'The Liberator'. The damn thing took longer to reload than to make and when you fired it actually hurt you. But the pistol was built as a one shot weapon, that you would use when you snuck up behind the Nazi." He then put his index finger to his forehead and said." Boom headshot. Then the partisan would take the dead Germans gun and leave the Liberator behind. They made millions of those guns and they were effective."

He then rested his hands on the table." We don't need millions of them, but what we need to do is knock out a lot of PLA in a real short amount of time, preferably at once. After that you need to remove the knocked out sods from the safe areas and deal with them somewhere else." He didn't elaborate further, he didn't want it to come to murdering another player but if that was what it took to liberate the city….

Yullier nodded, it made sense… but." Even with all the advantages you've given us we can at best remove half of the PLA garrison from play. Nuln is a big city and its divided by the River Reik and Av- hold on we don't need to control the whole city now do we?" She stopped as a plan formed in her mind, she may have been the second in command to Thinker but still she had earned her position by showing she was a competent officer. The deadly sewer battles underneath the streets of Nuln was where she had earned the respect… and admiration of Thinker.

"We just need to control one half of the city and the bridges. After that we can have one of the larger resistance guilds play besiegers outside of the gates to the side of the city we don't control. That way we can have a situation similar to Middenheim!" Yullier spoke excitedly.

Eugene smirked and said." That's some good thinking girl. Keep it up and we'll be getting to the Chaos Gate in no time." A blush appeared on her face and Eugene chuckled.

Then his face lost its humor, he then spoke." So that leaves Altdorf." Argo then spoke and said." I leave that to you guys to plan out that escapade." Reck was quick with an answer." A trap to draw out the PLA with a prize, then ambush them."

Eugene then looked at the beastman with a smirk." What's going to be the bait, a tank?" Then he was faced by five pairs of eyes. It took a moment for Eugene to understand that he had just become the most desired man of the PLA. When he realized this his only words were." Oh screw me with a-"

His reply was cut short when a message appeared before Adler.' _The Averheim 1st challenges the Golden Wolves for claim of the Fortress. Battle Type-Kill Points, Time Limit 30 Minutes. Do you accept?_' Though the message was backwards to Yullier, Argo and Jack who sat furthest away, the message was clear to Recks and Eugene.

Adler stood up and said to his second in command." Jack get the Golden Wolves outside organized, I want their soldiers in lines around the fort now. I want their best armor and weapons equipped now!" He then turned to the other representatives." I need you Eugene and Recks and Argo to come with me now. We need to get to the top of this tower and see where the fuck are these bastards at."

The others stood up and Jack asked." What is happening Adler?"

The Golden Wolf, the Barbarian Lord of Middenland, the Red Beard said." War has finally come to Middenland."

/

As the timer worked its way down to the last twenty seconds Adlers emerged at the top of the tower through the trap door." Where are you where are you." He said frantically as his eyes scanned the tree line looking for a screen light. Below in the fortress his Wolves were scrambling at the orders of Jack, asking what was happening or just getting their troops out of their encampment.

"There you are!" He saw the light through the snow fall, the Averlanders were gathered just behind the tree line facing the gate. There was only ten seconds left as Adler shouted down to his wolves." Get your troops lined up at the gate house wall!" He hoped that the state trooper players could hear his order. With a second to spare he pressed the accept button as his fellow leaders joined him at the top of the tower.

"What is happening?" Asked Reck, as he watched the chaos unfold below him. Adler spoke as he equipped himself with steel chainmail armor." Somehow a damn Averland army snuck up through our patrols, they just came out of nowhere like ghosts."

Argo watched the tree line as the Averlanders broke through the cover of the trees. There were thousands of bots and at least three light cannons being dragged out amongst the line. The soldiers were dressed in the alternating black and yellow pattern that gave them the look of yellow jacket wasps. But despite there being thousands of humans she could still pick out a few lumbering misshapen forms prodded along by just under man sized shapes.

She cursed under her breath." It's Clan Moulder." A trio of heads turned to her." Eh?" Eugene questioned.

"Clan Eshin isn't the only skaven clan to be invested in what happens in the Empire. The Moulder's must have been convinced to help the PLA…." She was then silent before she exploded in words." They used the underway, that's how they got passed your scouts!" She spoke hurriedly.

Adler waved away the thought." That doesn't matter right now, what matters is that we survive this battle and to make our lives just a bit longer we need to-" His speech was cut off when the first of the cannons belched flame and smoke. Its light round shot bounced on the frozen earth before impacting against the gate. Adler looked down and saw in a window that the damage to the gate was just under 3 percent, but then the other cannon balls impacted against the gate, the damage now at 8 percent. As the cannons fired the army of bots marched through the field on either side of the gates, allowing a clear field of fire to the doors and their controllers were safely behind the wall of troops.

Adler swore and spoke to his fellow leaders." Right I need you three to send messages out to your guilds and tell them what is happening. Reck see if you can get some of your boys here quick and help put down these PLA. After that I need you three to try and stop the troops from pouring by the breaches caused by those cannons. Or defend the inner court yard… or the tower, depends on how many will be over the walls soon."

Given that they were commanders in their own right and competent enough to understand that they were dead men and women if the PLA got into the fort. The trio didn't object to the orders, especially since they were literally in the wolfs den. But Eugene picked up something the others didn't when Adler spoke, he didn't say what he was going to do." What about you? Will you be organizing your troops?" Adler shook his head." No Jack will be taking care of the bot battle; I'm going to destroy those damn cannons!"

To punctuate his point the cannons fired again, this time one of the cannon balls hit the towers wall just below where the leaders stood. Adler then pushed through them." Pardon me but I need a horse." Argo grabbed hold of his arm." Wait, it's suicidal to do this."

Adler nodded." That it is, but so is staying here doing nothing but waiting for the bots to show up." He tried to pull away from her but she held on and looked him right in the eyes." It's suicidal to do it alone, I can help you as can the rest of my guards."

Adler stopped struggling and held his gaze with the teenager… she was young but that didn't matter here or now in a game where she was a powerful player. If she had an idea on how to make his mission just a little bit more survivable he was all ears." Alright tell me what you have planned on the way down."

As they descended the ladder within the tower he listened to her idea and admitted that it was so insane, like his own plans, that it had to work.

/

When they reached the base of the tower, after telling Yullier to add the money to her guild's treasury along with instructions just in case of her untimely PK, Argo and Adler had gathered together several of their players together. Besides Argo's guards there were five Golden Wolves who were also going to attempt the forlorn hope. They included Jawa, in his hooded brown robe, Sarah, Baldur and two low leveled engineers. The humans then mounted horses, which the players used to get around the old world a little easier with, and then helped their skaven allies into the saddles behind them, Argo rode behind Adler. The horses, because they were just data and with the game mechanics, didn't even register the extra weight.

By the time the 12 riders were saddled up the gates had suffered 34 percent damage and outside of the walls the Averlanders had come within range of the handguns and crossbow armed bots. The Golden Wolves bots were arrayed in front of the fort facing their attackers. In just a few short minutes Jack had organized the guilds army into a good order. The players were along the wall so they could follow the instructions of Jack.

The first rank was a skirmishing force of around thirty archers, when the enemy came within the bows maximum range the bot's owners had the archer's fire a single volley at the Averlanders own skirmishers before running back. The players were able to guide their units with a finger, by 'clicking' on the location that they wanted them to go then dragging them to form their ranks and width, they could also chose several other options such as attack including special ability's that they were not quite at a level to use. With the missile units they had a firing arc and a limit on the range of their weapons which was apparent to the owners of unit. If they had joined a unit themselves they could control that unit as they would a 'real' one in their world.

The Averlanders lost a few skirmishers but still outnumbered the Golden Wolves archers by a two to one margin. At their own maximum range they unleashed a volley onto the frontline of 'Line' state troops, which consisted of a line of around 50 hand gunners in two lines of 25 each. Some of the arrows found their mark and quite a few of the bots fell over dead because of the higher accuracy of the Averland skirmishers. The skirmishers then fell back into their own lines, their own line missile infantry moving up into range of the of the Middenland hand gunners.

Unlike the Middenlanders, who were more reliant on crossbows and brute strength, the Averlanders had invested heavily into handgunners and had outnumbered the Golden Wolves own by four to one. Before they could stand and set up a volley against the Middenlanders, Jack had the entire missile contingent of Golden Wolves fire at the handgunners. When setting up the missile troops Jack had made sure that the Golden Wolves crossbowmen, who numbered at around a 100 bots, were set up behind the melee bots and out of range of the Averlanders, they were also set up in a way that they were in the same range as the friendly handgunners. When the missile troops fired it was with a fusillade of fire and whizzing of arrows, even the archers were also in range of the enemy handgunners and had used their special ability of fire arrows.

With the single volley scores of handgunner bots fell from the bolts, bullets and arrows. They were still above a hundred a hundred hand gunners though, even though the most devastated regiments had been broken, when they fired their volley it eradicated what few Golden Wolves handgunners were left and lanced into the melee troops behind, though the archers were still able to fire at the hand gunners picking them off. The swivel guns as well added their round shot, though they were aiming for the state trooper blocks behind the handgunners.

When Adler heard the enemy volley he spurred his horse to the northern bastion, going out through the gates was out of the question but going over the walls was not, especially considering that most of the enemy was facing one wall and focused on the main bulk of the golden wolves. His horse and the others leapt over the bastions wall landing in the snow below. They galloped away from the fort as the real battle began behind them.

At the walls in front of the gate Jack shouted aloud." Melee units charge!" The players controlling the melee regiments then did as they were told, having over 400 of their troops charge at full speed at the Averlanders. The Middenland state troopers reflected their controllers and provinces fighting style in their equipment. They wore steel cuirasses, chainmail and helmets over blue and white uniforms, on their bodies were trinkets of Ulric from wolf fangs to human bones or symbols associated with Middenland. They were armed with either halberds or shield and sword combo's, there were no spearmen since they were used best for defense which didn't sit well with the aggressive play style of the Golden Wolves.

Even then the Golden Wolves had customized their units even more by replacing the swords with single handed warhammer's which granted an extra boost to the units strength characteristic when compared to just being armed with a swords. When ordering a charge against attackers, it was a little easier to control what would happen compared to the attackers who had to decide whether to hold, keep on advancing or counter charge. Before the Averlander's colonel could tell his army to hold a few of the PLA's had overheard one of their fellow soldiers say that they needed to charge, they took that as the order to charge, so around a hundred spearmen charged to meet the wolves.

The battle was short and bloody for the Averlander bots, the spearmen were built as a defending force where they could bring to bear more of their weapons then enemy could muster in their units. But since they were attacking this turn that buff to their defense was removed and they could only attack with what now essentially hand weapons. When the Middenlander's met the spear men a few of their number were impaled on the spears, but when they got to within an arm's length of the spearmen they used their better strength and in some cases higher skill to slaughter the spearmen. The charge of the Middenlanders slowed around where the spearmen had made their charge, but the other three hundred bots continued on and crashed into the blocks of Averlanders.

For the first few moments it was a repeat of what the Middenlanders had done to the foolish spearmen. When they charged into the Averland PLA bots it was listening to a car crash, metal met metal, flesh was torn and bones broken. When they Golden Wolves bots brought their hammers and halberds down, they tore through metal, smashed bone and dismembered bodies. It was a ferocity of slaughter that left hundreds of Averlander bots dead and the Golden Wolves howling and yipping in victory.

But despite hundreds of Averlanders sent to meet Morr, the Middenland bots had only taken out around 600 bots in just a few moments of battle. As soon as the first powerful strike had worn off the Averlanders then used their defensive buffs to their advantage. At the same as their weapons gave them a better wounding capability, they had the drawback of not being good defensive troops. They were a much smaller force at that then the Averlanders.

While the enemy troops in front of them held their attention, the PLA general flanked on either side of the Golden Wolves and started to crush them under the weight of numbers. The wolves, when they were able to get in a strike were devastating, easily reducing the Averlander HP to red or zero. They could not get in many offensive strikes though because they were on the defensive. While a bot blacked with his shield against a spear he was stabbed in the side under the armor by another spearman. Or when a halberdier brought his axe head down on the neck of an Averlander spearman, decapitating him easily, he was hham stringed and then his neck broken by a swordsman behind him.

The slaughter wasn't all one sided though, the crossbowmen and archers fired into the mass of yellow jackets, killing a score at least with each volley. The players on the wall also added their own fire, including the swivel guns. Johann's mortar belched fire and smoke from the top of the tower, the reason why had hadn't contributed to the battle earlier was that he had to have his crew carry the light mortar up into the top of the tower. The explosions from the shells created small pockets in the Averland army. But these attacks were directed to the flanks and not at the center for fear of hitting their own state troopers.

In five minutes the last of the Middenheim melee infantry was dealt with and now it was time for the remaining missile troops to meet their digital deaths. The crossbowmen and archers fired into the charging Averlanders, another fifty went down before they met in close combat. But when the tide of yellow and black overcame the crossbowmen and archers it was a repeat of what the Middenlanders had done to them earlier in the battle. They washed over the remaining bots and then reached the walls with just over 900 bots, they had lost over half their number in a matter of ten minutes, but they still had sufficient forces to overcome the outnumbered players. Even if the Golden Wolves could hold off the AI bots then there were the 200 PLA members that would finish the job.

/

Argo looked back over at the battle being fought and said to Adler." How far out is your nearest patrol?" Adler spoke to her as he turned the horse to the right towards the cannons a few hundred yards away." Okime is the closets; if he and his boys were running they might be here in another ten minutes at best."

"If they don't show up in five, even if your plan works, then you can say good bye to your Den." Argo spoke to him. Adler grunted." Better hope that they are running on all fours then." A head of them were the cannons and guarding them were the players that had lost all their troops in the assault, twenty seven guards in total guards. Adler had to give their commander his due, he may have been brutal when it came to the treatment of his bots, but he was smart enough not to gamble all his players, especially when he saw that Adler and a few of his guild mates had escaped.

/

At the wall of the fort the Averland bots crashed against the stone work like a wave against a rock, the ocean spray though was caused by blood from the swivel guns grapeshot. The Averlander's pressed against the wall with fire from bows, crossbows and firearms, the most devastating being from the small artillery pieces which caused holes to appear in their lines that were filled by more bots. The bots then brought up ladders and pressed them to the wall and began to climb up them to battle the players.

"Protect the Gunners!" Jack shouted before firing his crossbow into the face of a spearman who was climbing up his ladder, the bolt punching through the back of his helmet. He then drew his sword to face a swordsman. The melee oriented Golden Wolves stood on either side of the ladders and faced the bots, one would get their attention so the other would kill the bot or they would just stab through the ladder steps.

Though there were more characterful tactics in the defense of the Den.

Yullier, Eugene and his guards had quickly devised a defense for one of the swivel guns to the direct left of a ladder. It consisted of Eugene and his five swordsmen guards jumping down and forming a circle around the ladder. Of course they had to clear a path around the ladder when they first got down there. The swordsmen and Eugene though were some of the top players in the Reikland. When they jumped into the mass of Averlander's their swords flashed like lightning. Men were beheaded, arms were sliced off and bodies sliced in half by the Eugene's greatsword. The bots behind the Reiklanders, who were against the wall were shot down by Yullier and another Golden Wolf. The Averlander bots that tried to climb the ladder were added to the Reiklander's body count.

Reck saw what Eugene was doing and was about to repeat it when he noticed that the Skaven of Clan Moldour had committed themselves to the battle. Lumbering rat ogres and a tide of vermin prodded along by overseers made their way to the southern wall. Reck wasn't the only one to see the rodents advance to the lightly defended wall, two golden wolves had rushed to man the swivel guns. They fired grapeshot into the vermin and the lesser rodents fell by their dozens, but it was little more than mosquito bites against the 16 rat ogres.

Seeing as that the humans were going to be easily overrun, Reck bellowed a warcry and moved his hoofs. With his beastmen he ran at the wall and in two jumps he and four other beastmen, including the female minotaur were over the wall and charging at the Skaven. Reck was the first into the ratmen ranks and his axes twirled in a whirlwind of destruction, he cut down the giant rats that tried to get to him or crushed them underhoof. He met the player-overseer of the regiment, the ratman stabbed out with a warpstone infused spear. Reck blocked the spear with his axe as he charged at the rat, he slashed with the left axe against the overseer's chest armor. The ratman jumped back and was about to stab Reck, but wasn't able to due to the beastman slamming his axes into the overseers chest. The rat stared at the axes dumbfound before Reck pulled one axe out and decapitate the player.

His minotaur guardswoman faced down a rat ogre, it wasn't really a fight though. She had powered up a swing of her gigantic axe and dismembered the mutants oversized arms, which served as additional legs for its misshaped body. On the return swing she took the poor suffering creatures head. After that she was off to slay more of the giant bots.

/

By the cannons the Averlander PLA were prepared to meet the Golden Wolves and Argo's Skaven. The front line consisting of 10 handgunners who had lost their regiments earlier in the battle. Unlike their own bots these players had actual minds that could think and were much more accurate with their firearms. Their commander also had a handgun he was aiming directly at Adler. The Golden Wolves' guild master could feel the eyes on him.

"You ready with your ratty hocus pocus?" Adler asked, his horse bellowing steam as it's lungs pumped with exhaustion, just a scant 40 yards away from the line of players. Argo lifted up an object in her hand as did her Skaven." Not yet…." Then the enemy platoon commander shout." Fire!" As she heard that Argo activated her orb, her comrades doing so as well. In a flash of green light, as the hand gunners fired, the golden wolves, their horses and Skaven passengers disappeared. They then re-appeared behind the PLA line, the bound skitterleap spell working quite well. Adler and the two engineer's horses continued on to the cannons while Sarah and Baldur turned their mounted around.

As Baldur, Jawa and Sarah charged into the ranks of players, their skaven passengers first stood on the saddles and then kicked off the rump of the horse, catapulting themselves over the riders. They drew back their right hands steel claws shootout from above their arms. Their claws glowed a sickly green as they charged up a skill. They directed their fall at the backs of confused players, when they landed on the backs of two PLA members, the Skaven punched their claw daggers into the Averlanders. The two PLA players chests exploded in gore and their health was halved from the bonuses of a surprise attack, a critical hit and a magical weapon.

As the three Skaven withdrew their poisoned blades Sarah and Baldur struck with their own powerful weapons. In addition to glowing from the activated skills the two priests weapons were also magically charged and they themselves had addition inherit buffs of hatred. Baldurs axe had a wintery chill surrounding it which didn't have anything to do with the snow storm starting to billow around them. Sarah's two-handed warhammer had glowed with a warm light, she held it out like a lance, the hammer head aiming at the chin of one of the PLA soldiers. Baldur swung his axe and buried it in the head of one of the players, killing her outright, and passed through her skull. Sarah's warhammer caught the player she was aiming for under the chin and didn't kill him, but broke his jaw and knocked him to the ground cold. Jawa stayed back and cast a spell which slowed down some of the PLA to allow the skaven players to get in more strikes.

The two warrior priests horses knocked over the thin line of Averlander players, breaking through. They then joined the skaven players in the melee, careful of their horses in case they needed them to escape quickly.

Adler and Argo's group continued on to the cannons. The player gunners didn't move their guns to fire into the oncoming guildmaster, they were so close to destroying the gates that only a few shots were needed for their army to pour in…. That was till the riders drew their pistols and fired into the gun crews, interrupting the reloading process by killing the bots or at least wounding them. Again the Skaven players repeated the process of leaping off the horses and slaughtering the crews.

The cannons firing line was aligned to fire against the gates, the Skaven/Middenheimer players came from the side, so when they charged in the Skaven Players took on the first cannon crew due to the short distance they could jump. Argo faced off against the player with her twin claws, they stabbed through his chest as he raised a pistol to shoot her, his eyes went wide with shock as he saw his HP bar drop to zero. Argo felt… guilty and sick, this was her first PK, she had just taken a player's life… a father, a son, a brother? The look on his face was the worst part, she saw fear in his eyes and expression, then he fell back his eyes dull and lifeless.

As soon as the moment came it went, she withdrew her blades and then continued on to the remaining crew, focusing on the bots.

The Middenheimers continued to charge through the gun crews, the two engineers slashing with their short swords while Adler hammered away. He bashed and crashed into the crewmen till he heard a crack of a pistol and was gut punched off his horse. Adler grunted as he rolled to a stop, his health in the red line. He looked down at his belly and saw blood pouring from a hole in his chainmail." Fuck." He exclaimed. Then he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, a checkered yellow and black pair of pants. He looked up to see the bot crewman lift up a ram rod to strike Adler. Adler rolled towards the crew as he brought the ram rod down diagonally impacting against the frozen earth.

Adler felt his hammer missing, he must of lost it when he was shot and on the roll. So instead of striking out with the hammer he punched the bot in the balls, the bot doubled over in pain gripping his crotch. Adler then took up the ram rod and sat up. He then brought the ram rod down on the bots head again and again, eventually cracking his skull. After that and with a groan of exhortation he stood up. He walked wobbly, feeling the hole and bullet in his gut looking for his warhammer. He saw a warhammer shaped hole in the snow and walked to it.

As he bent over to pick it up he fell over. He landed on his knees and his hand gripped the handle of his weapon. He breathed heavily and felt helpless… the only other time he had felt this way was when he was a boy and had his appendix removed, that floored him for a month. He was a sitting duck to any player… he heard the crunch of snow next to him. The figure then bent down and offered a hand." Hey get up, we got a war to fight." Argo told him.

He took the hand and with her help, stood." Thanks." She nodded." Any time…." She looked around at the battery." Looks like most of the gunners are dead." Adler looked around and to agree, the cannons were cleared and the gunners were dead their red blood covering the snow. The one gunner still alive was a player of the PLA, his hands over his head and weapons on the ground. The two engineers circling him and having their swords pointed at his neck as they rode around him. Adler straighten himself." All but one."

He then walked to the engineer, his steps heavy. He looked down at the PLA his warhammer over his shoulders and the most intimidating face he could muster. The teenager, who looked like he still belonged in high school instead of a fantasy army, gulped and shook in fear. Adler spoke." I am Adler leader of the Golden Wolves, as you can see I just killed you gun crews. Now then if you don't want to join them, get out of my sight and never come back to Middenland…." He then bent down, his hammer haft steading himself, with a smirk he whispered into the engineers ear." Or I'll sic my dogs on you boy."

The teenager nodded quickly." Thank you sir, I'll be leaving mister Adler." He then turned and ran, scampering away from the battle.

Argo gave a wide grin." Now I can see that the PLA was telling the truth about you being a 'Big Bad Wolf'." Adler chuckled and shook his head." That's what I try to project." Argo crackled." They also say that you blow…."

Adler grunted and then turned to his engineers, deciding to change the subject to something more productive." Get off your horses and man those guns. I want you to have the center gun loaded with round shot and aim at the PLA players at the fort. The one on the outside on the right I want to have loaded with grapeshot and aimed at those guards we ah skittered through."

One of the engineers spoke." Could use some help on reloading the cannons boss." Adler, despite his current state, said." I'll help." He turned to Argo." Your skaven as well, that'll make the gun crew three members."

"Alright, just so you know we don't know how to load your kind of cannons." Argo told him. Her ally shrugged." Just follow their orders." He pointed his thumb at his engineers.

/

The first Golden Wolf died at the wall. He was loading swivel gun and was in the yellow of his health bar from previous attacks, slashes from spears and swords. But what killed him though was a pistol shot from a PLA soldier. The shot struck him in the chest and knocked him back over the wall, his health dropping to zero. When he hit the ground he had already died.

The PLA had finally committed their last reserve, the players in their army.

With only a hundred bots left their colonel had committed their leaders, the actual humans in his force, to the fight. The players fought up to the wall, firing pistols, handguns or some other ranged weapon at the Middenlander's, keeping their heads down and their own fire unable to shoot at the PLA. That didn't mean they were shot at, the grapeshot from three of the swivel guns killed a dozen players before their operators had to duck down. The PLA then started to climb up the ladders that was when the Golden Wolves suffered their second death.

It was Jeremy, who fought alongside Agatha and were still using the tactics of distraction and then striking. It was because they still used the tactics that Jeremy met his doom when he slashed out at a player who was smart enough to block the strike from Agatha's halberd with his shield. The PLA soldier then stabbed Jeremy's sword hand, disarming him. When Jeremy bent to pick up his blade, his shield up, the enemy swordsman saw a small opportunity when he saw the skin on Jeremy's neck. With a thrust the player stabbed into the Brit's neck, slicing into his spine. The Golden Wolf then fell down like a puppet who's strings were cut. That was also the cause of the PLA soldiers death when he thrusted he lifted up his shield far enough for the soccer mom to lunge and have the spear tip of the halberd pierce under the players gut and force him off the ladder and back onto the blood stained snow below.

When the PLA started to climb up the wall there was one ladder which they could not use, Eugene and his remaining four swordsmen had created a wall of bots at the base of the ladder twice as tall as Eugene was. Well over a hundred of the AI controlled state troops surrounded them and yet at the same time protected them from their commanders. When the PLA reached the top of the wall fighting along the way and surviving much more readily than their bots, Eugene saw this and said." Time to help the puppy's." He then ran up the ladder, his greatsword ready to strike at the nearest PLA trooper. So he did, bringing the sword down and cutting in through the armor and into the players chest with a diagonal slash through his shoulder. The player was fighting a golden wolf and wasn't expecting the attack that killed him.

Outside of the wall's the beastmen had lost two of their gors. One was driven into the ground by a strike from one of the remaining Rat Ogres and another had been eaten by a tide of giant rats. Reck had killed half a dozen players and then used his axes to embed into the back of a rat ogre and used each swing of his axes to climb up the mutant, then killed the creature by bashing into its skull. His minotaur guardswoman's axe had broken after the tenth Rat Ogre she had slain, without her great weapon she had resorted to using her hands. She gripped one of the Rat Ogres in a head lock and twisted it off in a shower of gore. While the archer ungor and the two Golden Wolves swivel gunners had been taking a deadly toll on the hordes of smaller rats.

More Middenlanders died at the wall, the PLA soldiers breaking through. It seemed that they were ready to be overrun, their fortress and the leaders of the recently formed alliance overrun and destroyed. All hope for a moral Empire lost in a matter of bloodstained moments… if not for two events.

/

The first event was the thunderous booms of cannons. Adler' engineers had reloaded the PLA gun battery, the center gun with round shot and the gun on the on the right with grape shot. Adler helped moved the cannon on the right to face the PLA guards who were reduced to 15 soldiers, though still outnumbered their golden wolf enemies three to one. Adler shouted to them." Oi you bastards! Move or I'll shot your ass!" That was directed both at the PLA and his troops. For the players it only took a glance towards Adler and the loaded cannon, which bore seemed so much larger since they were looking down it. The Skaven players jumped on or were helped up into the saddles of their Golden Wolf allies, who galloped to the treeline.

The smart PLA players, most of them in fact, started running away from the cannons as well. The less intelligent of them stared at the guns or their legs were not moving as quickly as they should." Both cannons fire!" Adler shouted at the top of his lungs.

He was enshrouded in smoke and flame. His cannon's grape shot spread out as an oversized shotgun would have. The players who were not quick enough to move out of the way were hit by the multiple musket balls. Those who were hit by four or more of the grape shot was reduced to zero, if they were hit by one or two and their health was in the yellow they were also killed. If the players were further away or were in the green and hit by a musket ball they would survive. But with an additional 7 players dead the last resolve of the guards were broken and they didn't stop running.

Argo's gun on the other hand was aimed at the PLA players at the base of the Den's wall. The round shot flew out of the barrel at the largest concentration of Averlanders. Unlike the grape shot, which had spread out and lost a good amount of power, the round shot had a higher velocity. It bounced on the snow before impacting against the players. It struck like a lance, punching through the ranks, dismembering players, shooting through players chests or decapitating them.

10 more PLA soldiers died, but that wasn't enough to break the siege. The enemy was so close to overrunning the remaining 40 defenders with their 130 troops. They could taste victory, just one last push in the blasted blizzard and they would claim victory.

That was when the second event began….

/

It was a howl, not a human imitation of a wolf's cry that the Golden Wolves had intimated, but rather it was a true wolf howl. But it wasn't just a single howl, it was hundreds upon hundreds of howls so loud that the combatants stopped fighting to look where it was coming from. When Adler located the source of the wolf howls he was amazed by the sight in front of him." Sweet Ulric." His mouth gaped open.

Along the tree line were hundreds of wolves. They were of all different fur colorations, grey, black, brown, steel blue but the largest though… the largest was a pair of gigantic white wolfs, one with a rider on top. It was Okime, he was of average height in home country but when he was riding atop the creature he looked smaller than he actually was, he grinned at Adler and raised up a sword in salute. The other wolf walked over to Adler, it's feral yellow eyes staring at Adler's looking for weakness. Adler didn't flinch and stared back at wolf with respect. The gigantic wolf then lowered its front legs in front of Adler. The Golden Wolf then took a step up and sat on the back of the wolf. Argo and Adler's men were in awe of the sight before them… it was a Haiyo Miazaki flick come to life!

Adler under stood what was happening, his guild wasn't meant to die from a sneak attack just yet, not when they had caught the attention of the god of winter, the great wolf himself, Ulric. He then removed his chainmail armor and pressed his hand to his bleeding wound, then wiped the blood across his face. Adler lifted his hammer up and pointed at the mass of PLA soldiers who suddenly realized they were trapped between a rock and a hard place. Adler then gave a howl, which the wolves, both Golden and on all fours, imitated. The feral wolves then charged at the PLA.

If the game had supported waste functions the Averlanders would have ruined their trousers at the sight of the slavering jaws. With their bots dead, unable to absorb the new forces punch and being pressed between the wall and the charge range, they and their few remaining Skaven allies fled. Those who couldn't run and were in the middle of combat threw down their weapons to yield.

There was one PLA soldier who didn't run, it was their colonel. He was a knight armored from head to toe in full plate, he rode a barded warhorse and was outfitted with a shield and lance combo, a sword at his waist. His war horse was charging and lance couched under his arm, its tip aimed directly at Adler. The Golden Wolves Guild Master held his warhammer out to the side as he powered up a skill. If the knight was able to impale to Adler, even if he wore armor, the guild master would be a dead man from his lowered health.

If he had been controlling a horse he would be dead as well, the beast would be under his control and would be more difficult to fight the knight with the lance. But he was not riding a horse, he was riding a monstrous beast that he had no control over. The beast leaped and then crashed into the knight and knocked him off his horse. The wolf then skidded to a halt behind the fallen knight, Adler looked down at him a few feet away. He then pointed his hammer head at the man as he got up and said." You put up a good fight but your attack has ended in defeat. I do not wish to kill you or anyone else. Yield to me, surrender your equipment and you will be treated well enough. If you do not, then I will fight you till you do yield or your dead. On that I swear as a warrior of Middenland."It honestly shocked Adler how fluffy his speeches could get in this game, but then again he was playing a RPG.

The knight stood up favoring his right leg and drew his sword, pointing it's tip at Adler, he then spoke." I am sir Diabel of the Knights of the Blazing Sun. I am the colonel of the Averheim 1st of the People's Liberation Army. I fight for the freedom of the player's trapped in this game and I won't let you stop us from obtaining this goal. I challenge you to a duel to the death."

Adler stared at the young knight looking to see if he was bluffing in his eyes, when he didn't see the knight flinch, Adler then stepped off his beast and onto the snow covered ground. If he was going to kill a man, even if it was his first kill and one in which he was injured, he was going to do so fairly. The wolf then walked away far enough to watch the fight but not participate in it. Adler held his hammer above his head in a two handed stance." I accept your challenge Diabel, come at me bro."

Both warriors had their HP in the yellow of their health bars, Adler was healing from the wound earlier in the battle and Diabel had suffered his wound to his right leg when the white wolf had knocked him off his horse. Diabel held the advantage in defense, with his full plate armor and shield. Adler on the other hand felt the power of Ulric course through his icy veins, the hole in his belly numbed by cold, his hammer having tiny icicles swirl around it, but he was without armor. So they were equally pitted against each other.

Diabel was the first to moved, he grunted in exertion as he powered up a sword skill, then lunged forward at Adler. The older guild master moved slightly and was stabbed through his side. With the sword embed in his side and down in the red, Adler brought his hammer down in a powerful arc, not on Diabels head or body but on his sword hand. The hammer head shattered Diabels hand forcing him to release the blade, he then pulled back and raised up his shield to protect himself against the next blow from Adler.

It didn't come, instead Adler calmly transferred his warhammer to his left hand and with his right pulled Diabels sword from his side. He was now armed with two weapons compared to Diabel's lone shield. Adler asked." Continue?"

Diabel opened his menu and then quickly selected a short sword with his left hand." Continue." He was crouched ready to defend himself. Both players were now in the red zone, at best twenty percent of their health left. A few blows from a sword or hammer and one or the other would be dead.

Adler was the first to strike, using his hammer to feint an attack. Diabel then stabbed at Adlers chest, but he blocked with Diabels sword. Then Adler brought his hammer down on Diabel's knee, piercing through his armor. Diabel then slashed at Adler aiming for his neck. Adler couldn't block with his weapons, but he did back hand the hilt with his sword hand, the strike interrupted. Adler then stabbed down and pierced Diabels chest armor with his superior, magically infused strength.

Diabel saw his health bar drop down to zero and said to Adler, his voice filled with bloody phlegm."…Please, try and save as many people as you can." Adler spoke two words that were the last Diabel ever heard." I will." Diabel then smiled and fell back down off the blade, staining the snow covered ground red as he died.

Adler stared at the corpse for a moment with mixed emotions. Despite being on the front lines of the conflict against the PLA from the first day and leading raids against them, he had never personally taken a life of another player… he looked away from the cooling corpse and at the white wolf. It sat there watching him with appraising eyes. Adler saluted the wolf with Diabel's sword, then stabbed it into the ground. The wolf kept watching him as a blizzard of snow surrounded the wolf, then it disappeared, the yellow eyes being the last to fade away.

/

The snow storm ended soon afterwards. The grounds around the fort surrounded by frozen blood. The survivors met each other and checked on who was still alive. Okime was the first to return to the fort proper, his wolf dropping him off at the gates before returning to the forest.

Adler was next, as soon as he entered the fort he was greeted by a cheer from his golden wolves, he had made a show and had shown that not all the stories about Adler being a warrior of great skill not being totally made up. He gave a weak smile and said to them." You all did an amazing job. I thank you for looking out for yourselves when I decided to be a show off." He lifted up a hand to silence the groan." Now now, if you want to cheer for someone give a cheer to your commander Jack and our allies. We could not of survived without them… lets give a few cheers for them." He lifted his hammer up and yelled." Hip, hip, huzzah!" His guild then gave a cheer for Jack and the allies.

Jack walked up to him right afterward and said." You want the toll boss?" Adler sighed as he nodded." Yes, inside the tower… not in front of the guild though." Before they went into the tower, Adler told Okime to come along to tell his side of the story of how he got the wolves to show up.

Adle sat heavily onto one of the chairs and asked Jack." What's the damage?"

The second in command opened a menu and spoke." A dozen of our guildmates killed, the gate at 97 percent damaged and the tower took 15 percent damage. Eugene and Reck lost a pair of guards each… oh and we have 32 PLA troopers captured." Adler nodded at the numbers and spoke." Could be worse… right first priority should be our prisoners. Once our guildmates get back to full HP gather up the prisoners and I'll give them a choice." He then took a breath." Either they maybe exiled from the Mddenland and never to return or participate in the penal colony in the Middle Mountains, with a possibility of parole."

Without missing a beat he turned to Okime and asked." Now then I've got one question for you. Where did you come up with the cavalry?"

Okime had a wolfish grin." Well sir when we got the message that the Den was under attack we high tailed it here. We were running when we first started to notice that there were wolves also running in the same direction. Then this one wolf, the big one that I rode in on, ran in front of me. I stopped dead in my tracks thinking it was a mob boss. But the wolf bent down and allowed me to get on its back, I didn't think it would get out of the path any other way. After that I rode it here with those other wolves following behind. My platoon was left behind… they should be here soon I hope. Ah right back to my story. Well after that the wolves arrived on the tree line and… well you know what happened afterwards sir."

Adler took in the story and nodded." Thank you for sharing Okime, now Jack I want to talk to you about-" He was interrupted when Reck busted through the towers door.

"I want assurances that my people will not be abused, a place to live in peace and I want them now." He demanded immediately. The trio of Middenlanders stared at the beastman as if he had grown a third head… which considering their origins….

Adler broke the silence." Of course… but why are you bringing this up now?" Reck snorted." Because I want my people's to be safe and I don't want you to get distracted by battle plans and then discuss it after the war. We'll be the losers again if that happens. Now then can I get assurances from you?"

Adler nodded and said." Yes… Middenheim will welcome beastmen players, so long as they don't commit any crimes we won't harass you… and we'll give you the Darkwald in Middenland if you seek some lands for your people. Before you say anything Jack, yes we can spare the forest, we also have Hochland and the Tabecland forests that we can hunt in. Is that satisfactory Reck?" The beastman grunted appreciatively." Yes it would."

That was when Eugene, Yullier then Argo slunk in, the latter asked." I couldn't help but overhear something about battle plans?" Adler said." Yes I was going to start discussing them with Jack when Reck barged in."

The rat woman grinned slyly." Not going to include little ol' me eh?" Adler rolled his eyes and spoke." Actually we were thinking of including you in our party to take back Middenheim." Argo pursed his lips in thought before saying." Sure I'll join you."

Adler's palm met his face." I'm not even going to argue."

/

**A/N: I've decided to include some real world effects in the combat as well, it's still a game but it's much more deadly for the avatars/players than in SAO. Also this is going to be the last chapter I'm going to post for a while, I hope the length of it makes up for the lack of future content. **


	7. Golden Wolves: Liberation

**A/N: See first chapter for disclaimer. After receiving several reviews telling me to put line breaks for dialog I have started to do so. Also an I want to issue an apology ahead of time for the quality of the chapter, this being the longest chapter I've ever written there will be mistakes cropping up. Thank you fans or people interested in this story also for the 2K hits.**

**MadFrog2000: Thank you for your review. I am planning on doing some Omake's/interludes as well that will explore some of the other characters, this chapter will also be including more SAO characters. The death toll is from the nations that Argo has come into contact with, there are 5 more she hasn't met up with and that includes the chaos guys up north. I honestly don't know if Berserk would be completed by then, but by then it would be in popculture for almost thirty years. With the reason why I put Diabel in with the Averlanders instead of Bretonnia… well just read on through this chapter and you'll see. Yes there will be the new army list entries but they will be included further along in the story as the player's level up and 'unlock' these choices. The players are only in their low levels right now where they can unlock the core and a limited amount of special choices, depending on what profession they take on.**

/  
_The Undercity-Middenheim  
A few moments after midnight, December 7th 2022 _

When Adler had heard that Argo wanted to come with his party to the undercity he had thought she was joking and was only responding his joke, he had been proven wrong. The skaven woman had insisted she come with Adler and fifty of his wolves on their 'quest' to liberate Middenheim when they were at the gates of the Den. When he had that she wasn't needed and that it would be dangerous to have a pair of powerful guild leaders to be traveling together, as was the evidence of the attack on the Den, Argo had given him a very good argument as to why she could come.

The first point being she could not safely travel the underway back to the southern cities or Skavenblight while Clan Freaka, a sub clan of Clan Moulder which had attacked the Den along with the Averlanders, was unaccounted for and the main body of her guild was in Nuln so she couldn't count on them arriving to help her or clear a way in the underway. Then she made her second point that even if she had gone over ground she would have to travel with Eugene and Yullier, given what their part of the liberation plan it was again safer to stay with the Golden Wolves. The third part of her argument was that in the undercity it was going to be better to have scouts who were very much at home underground and built to be sneaky on this mission. As much as the map Argo had sold to Adler had helped them find which way to go, it wasn't much help to determine what sort of monsters were in their way in the paths ahead so her guards were of value to the Golden Wolves.

Adler had sense there was going to be another reason but was held back, he had a suspicion that if he played the 'sex' card she would say that gender didn't matter in a video game so much as stats and skills. He never played that card before in game or out though, if a person earned their position in life it didn't matter what color, sex or orientation they were, they had earned it and his respect. Of course that didn't mean there weren't some people or organizations that earned his ire, but they had to go out of their way to make his life a personal hell before he really started to hate them, the PLA being one such organization along with their leaders.

So after Argo had laid out her argument Adler let her come along with his men with a minimal amount of fuss. When they had set out from the Den, Argo noticed something odd about the players and their equipment in the party. All of the players were male and white, that was odd because the Golden Wolves had never been ones to decriminate against their fellow players. The second oddity was that there were two distinct types of players, exactly 30 players were halberd users and another 20 were crossbowmen. The fact that this group wasn't using mixed weaponry was unsettling since the golden wolves typically worked in small units of mixed specialists. She had kept silent though, she had enough trouble to worry about besides them. Now they were hundreds of feet underground the city of Middenheim slowly making their way up to the city proper. Actually fighting their way through mobs was a more appropriate expression.

The mobs they had been facing were known as 'rouge' skaven and mutants. The rouge part coming from the fact that these skaven were not part of the player base or larger skaven nation, but were rather organized mobs that were armies onto themselves. Adler had faced 'rouge' versions of Empire state troops and beastmen in the wilds of the Middenland and Hochland and were found to be surprisingly common, they were a few steps above the single mobs and needed a large party to deal with them, but still they were digital constructs and easily eliminated.

Argo's scouts had been earning their reputation by going ahead of the main body of players, reporting back where there were larger concentrations of the rouges. So far the fifty golden wolves in the party had been the ones to go toe to toe with the larger regiments of Skaven. Thankfully they were mostly clanrats, skaven slaves and storm vermin and the terrifying warmachines of the ratmen were not to be found just yet. As a party they had killed over 1000 mobs in the two hours they had been in the undercity with the promise of many more still to come.

It was in between rooms and larger rouge skaven regiments, while there were single mobs for individual players to take on, that Argo and Adler were able to talk to each other. They were at the front of the column of Golden Wolves, ten yards ahead of the group and were able to have some privacy while they spoke to each other." So… can we talk without my guild going broke?" Asked Adler half-jokingly, she had already cost him 500 gold pieces for the map and he just wanted to be sure that if they had a chat that they wouldn't be more business partners than acquaintances.

She gave a chuckle." Only if you ask for specifics, other than that ask away." She told him.

Adler breathed an internal sigh of relief." Thanks. So what's happening in the old world today?" He asked.

"Can you be a little more specific?" Argo asked. A moment later she added." No charge… actually when I say 'cash' you'll know if it'll cost you something."

Adler nodded, the girl was quick on her feet he had to give her that." Well then, my first big question is what's happening in Marianburg? I've heard rumblings that they are meeting with the PLA but that seems… a bit counterproductive if they want to keep their money?"

The coastal city of Marianburg was one of the wealthiest of all cities in the old world, the elves may have had the wealthiest but for this continent Marainburg was the richest of all. They were so rich that they 'bought', or more properly bribed, their independence from the Empire around a hundred years earlier. In game terms that meant each Empire player who had selected Marainburg as their starter city got a bonus 10 gold pieces and also had better barter skill's to ply on the NPC and less savvy players. That made the whole affair of them opening up talks with PLA, who were at the best of times tax farmers and went all the way down to a bunch of thugs, so very…disturbing.

Argo answered his question." It's because they want to escape as much as the PLA does, they just didn't go down the same route. Marainburg didn't have any 'occupiers' like the other cities in the Empire did and with their extra money they didn't really have a reason to go after collectors. Actually the city is ruled over by a council of collectors because they were able to buy their seats of power, so they could make alliances or go to war with whoever they want. The same goes for Clan Freaka. The PLA are gunning to become evil and destroy the Grand Temple of Sigmar ASAP. If Marainburg joins up with the PLA in alliance they are considered part of the same faction so when the PLA does destroy the Grand Temple of Sigmar then they will be free to leave. But that would mean leaving behind hundreds of thousands of players who would be left in the game.

Adler swore." Sweet Sigmar, it makes a twisted kind of sense. The more players that they murder in cold blood or reduce their karma meter then the quicker they will be able to escape. If they were less crazy about getting collectors in the beginning and not so much about PKing and had actually be in contact with the other races then I would of joined them but…. But all the could have been's doesn't change what has happen. They have gone too far and caused so many deaths that they must be stop."

He sighed heavily and looked at Argo apologetically." I'm sorry for the rant, when I get started thinking and I talk at the same time that happens."

The ratwoman waved off his apology." It's alright. I'm with you on your reasoning…." Argo bit her lips in thought before adding." I have my own concerns about the PLA and Marainburg. You see the Marainburgers may not have anything against collectors but they do certainly have it out for Beta testers."

Adler quirked an eyebrow." You mean their buying into that… what's his name… Kikichu… Kikiowho…kiosu…. Cactus Head's ramblings down in Averland?"

Argo giggled at that." His name is Kibaou though that does fit him fairly well." She then lost her humor as she continued on." Yes and no, you see before they heard about Kibaou they had problems with beta's offering bad contracts to players, leading groups into monster dens and then leaving them to die and for them to pick over the dead. That really turned the community against the beta's and they killed most of them, there weren't many only a few dozen in that city but… the damage was done. I lost a few contacts I had from the Beta as well." It was her turn to sigh and shrug." But hate seems to be joined by hate, so Kibaou keeps stirring up the Averlanders and the Marainburgers listen to him."

"So you're a beta like Jack?" Adler asked casually. Argo said one word in reply." Cash."

Adler could tell from the tone in her voice that she didn't want to go further into the subject so he let the matter drop. Instead he asked another question." I understand what's happening with the dwarfs with them allowing refugees to seek asylum in their holds. I also know that the reason why they aren't joining our side out right is because of some trouble with greenskin players. The same for goes for the greenies. But what's bothering me is that why haven't heard a word from Bretonnia and the wood elves. Not a knight errant or way watcher has been spotted in the Empire, I thought for sure they would be crawling over the country side doing quests or making alliances. So why haven't they?"

Argo was silent and opened up her menu to read something before she closed it." Alright, so I can tell you about what's happening there but if you want names of people and specifics about what's going on then it will cost you. 50 gold up front." She told him.

Adler opened his menu and with a few clicks a bag of gold appeared in his hand which he gave to the information broker. She pocketed the cash into her inventory and then continued to speak." Bretonnia is in a middle of an outright civil war. The opposite of what happened in the Empire happened there. The collectors banded together and decided to 'role play' out their medieval wet dream. The collectors in each of the major cities were able to pool their cash and buy baron titles for a few of their kind. So they were able to make knights or men of arms out of anyone that they thought was proper enough to earn it. That meant no one who looked like a peasant or a woman, unless they were collectors as well. That didn't go over well with the populace since even if a person was at level one he was also knight errant he would get a starting force of 10 men at arms or bowmen and all the equipment to become a knight."

"After that announcement the 'undesirables' made a break for it to get out of the cities, a few thousand made it out before the gates were shut. Since then it's been a civil war with the rebels on the losing side, though they have hedge knights of their own now after a month of level grinding and things have even out now. The big players are Michelle of Avignon, a long bowman build and leader of the Southern Bretonnian peasants and Marquis Giles de Rais leader of the collector barons. He's the one who shut down the routes to the Empire an-" Argo felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to Adler." Eh?"

He leaned down and spoke to her in a whisper." If this dude is going by that avatar name Bretonnia is going to be in some serious deep shit if the Barons win." He then explained to her the sordid details about the real life de Rais. It made her sick at hearing of the French lord's exploits, from causing his family to go bankrupt, to his practices with the occult and the mass murder/sexual assault of children he perpetrated in his castle to summon demons. If this player was trying to intimidate even a fraction of the real person's life… she felt very concern over the fate of Bretonnia.

"We'll deal with him at a later point. Till then we have our own daemons to deal with… and what about the welfs?" Adler asked pulling away from Argo.

"Welfs?... oh you mean wood elfs. Well that's just the thing, the little contact that my scouts or the Bret's have been having hasn't been productive. Mostly it consists of warnings 'Stay out of our forest, this is our hunting ground' and the players that do decide to go into the forest end up looking like pin cushions." Argo told him.

Adler nodded in understanding." I see so the west is filled with hard core RPers." Then a moment later he added, with a bit of humor in his voice." Well this continent is pretty messed up. I wonder what the high and mighty elves and their emo cousins will think when they finally reach the old world.' Alright laddies back on the ships were going the long way around to take out the Chaos Gate'." He finished in a rather horrible Irish accent.

Argo cracked a smile, it was good that some people still had at least a little humor, though Adler was pretty bad, he was at least attempting to lighten the mood in this grim world.

/

_Altdorf, The Reikland-Middenland border and Nuln  
The Early Hours of December 7th_

It was not just in Middenheim that a scheme was being put into play. Across the Empire final preparations were finished and the opening moves of open rebellion were made. When night came the fate of tens of thousands of players would be decided, either the Empire players would be free to explore the Old World or to be always under the thumb of the PLA.

Out on the Middenheim-Altdorf road was a patrol station for the PLA. It was a wooden border fort with a garrison of 10 players and 167 bots. They were here to discourage any Golden Wolves or beastmen from going any further south. If the beastmen or Golden Wolves tried to attack the fort or made their way to the south then the fort could be easily over whelmed from the much higher number of players, despite the light cannons lining the wall. But that wasn't the real purpose of the fort, it was meant to send out a message to the main force of PLA soldiers in and around Altdorf. To have them prepare for a larger attack and to counter the rebels own attack.

It was a suicidal job, so only the most loyal to the PLA were chosen for this job, of course though that meant the criteria for intelligence was over looked. After all they only had to be loyal, report any large concentrations of rebels or beastmen and told that help will be there in a few moments notice. What was told though to them wasn't quite what was going to happen.

It was on this cold early December morning that the guard decided to move a little and look up the road towards Middenland. As he looked out of his guard house and to his great surprise, he saw a single figure standing in the middle of the road. He took a quick glance of the figure, it was draped in a red cloak and had a greatsword upon his back. If not for the player recital above his head the guard would of thought of it an quest event.

The guard then reached for the warning bell and rang it, all the while shouting." Trouble! Dude on the road! Wake up, wake up!" There was rustling within the fort as players awoke and started to activate their bots. The guard who spotted the figure moved his regiment of 14 handgunners to the wooden stockade, the AI bots had their guns at port arms till their master clicked on a target.

While this was going on the cloaked figure just stood on the road, his face obscured by the hood of his cloak. When the border's fort commander made it to the tower and shouted down at the figure." Who are you! State your business!"

The figure then reached behind his neck and drew his greatsword, not saying a word to the guards. The guards commander felt a trap from his instincts, he could feel that eyes were upon him and his men. He opened up his menu to send a message to Fort Schuler when he saw them, his instincts were telling the truth.

Moving around the fort was a mass of beastmen, thousands of bots and hundreds of players were marching to the south in the forest. They started to move as one when the commander had open his menu. He gulped loudly." O'bullocks." He said with a dry mouth, with so many beastmen his fort would be over run in a matter of seconds and he would be a dead man before he could get his message out.

The figure in red pulled back his hood and looked the commander in the eye." I am Eugene, brother of Mortimer and Friend of Steve. I am one of the three commanders of the Altdorf resistance, if you don't want to die in the next five minutes I would suggest that you listen to me." Eugene shouted at the commander.

Loyalty it seemed had a breaking point, that breaking point was a few thousand hate filled eyes looking back at you and the sudden realization that maybe you made the wrong choice in volunteering to be the warning bell. The guard commander spoke." I'm listening."

Eugene smirked and sheathed his blade." I just need you to send a message to Fort Schular."

/

In Altdorf, current capitol and center of the Empire, Mortimer had just receive a message from the northern gate house over the river. Mortimer was a man in his early thirty's, his hair slicked back with oil with a slim build unlike his younger brother. With his stance and a wisps of grey in his hair he looked like a senior business manager, which he was in his real occupation.

The message said that the entire northern garrison of PLA soldiers had left for fort Schuler, over 200 soldiers of the PLA. They were replaced by a reserve company of a hundred other PLA soldiers, leaving the city defended by 500 players. They were drawn to the North by a report of one of their border forts being overrun by 200 Golden Wolves. The Northern Barbarians were now making their way to Fort Schuler, 20 miles north of Altdorf and the last bulwark of defense against the Middenlanders save for the walls of Altdorf.

Mortimer knew the numbers the PLA were given were false though, instead of their being hundreds of Golden Wolves going to fight for the Fortress there was going to be only 50. The missing 150 wolves were already in Altdorf, snuck in on NPC river barges the day before when they rode to a town up the Talbec and hitched a ride on several barges. They included in their number a hedge mage named Jawa and their leader a young man by the name of Okime. The latter of the pair seemed to of had a wild streak ready to be unleashed as he paced back and forth in the small Altdorfian home.

The home was located in the Eastern part of the city where the western Reik flowed in and a few blocks away from the docks. It was a solitary two story house like thousands of others in the city, before it was bought the house was a home to an elderly NPC scholar, so the candle lights within the building wouldn't draw any suspicion from the PLA because scholars stayed up late working. They kept up the appearance that the old man was still living here and were able to operate for the past week within the confines of the home. Mortimer had to admit that this was better living conditions than in the sewers.

The houses owner was sitting in the second story study along with Okime and Mortimer. He was in his early fifty's and wore a light red and blue shirt and pants combo. He was oddly enough painting a small lead figurine of a knight with purple and white livery. The game designers had decided that it would be a fun easter egg to throw in overpriced miniature's in the old world that the players could collect and paint up as a shout out to the real world version of Warhammer." And there we go, one preceptor down and an entire regiment to go." Steve said as he put the knight on top of the desk along with ten others, their bases being a piece of flat wood painted and glued with scenery.

The older man looked up at Mortimer." Did the guards move out already?" Steve question.

As he finished speaking Okimes head turned to Mortimer and his message screen. Mortimer nodded." Yes. Now we need to get ready." Then Mortimer asked the Golden Wolf." Okime promise me that you can contain yourself a few hours more. I know you want to crack an PLA skull as much as us but-"

Okime held up a hand." I promise that I'll hold off on making a scene. But as soon as I get the word though…."

Mortimer nodded." Of course, you may create as much havoc as you want , but remember your objectives."

Okime said." Yay ya, I get it, make sure that we knock out as many PLA as possible and tie them up, but finish it up by an hour after the attack begins."

As he finished speaking Steve stood and put on a cuirass of steel with tassets and a helm in the shape of an eagle. At his waist was a pair of swords." Right I'm going to be leaving for the Imperial Palace District then. See you kids later on when we take over the city." He then lit a Tabaco pipe as he left the room heading down the stairs to the basement which had access to the sewers below. Okime then followed after him and to the southern side of the city. After Mortimer put on his own armor, a rather ornate gold and steel set with a brace of dueling pistols and a rapier. He then left for the eastern half of the city on the southern banks of the Reik.

/

In the sewers beneath Nuln, Thinker was traveling along with four of his fellow rebels. They traveled on a walkway with the sewage of the city flowing below them. Due to the huge influx of funds provided by the golden wolves yesterday each of the four humans, save for their skaven ally, was armed with a brace of double barreled pistols. The human players in the group wore mismatched armor and clothing, the best they could do since they were some of the poorest of the rebel fighters in the Empire.

Throughout the undergrounds 150 fighters, a third of which belonged to Argo's clan, were moving into position on the northern side of Nuln. In just a few moments the uprising would begin. Unlike the other cities in the empire that were about to participate in open warfare, the situation in Nuln was more precarious for the rebels. This was because of the huge number of PLA troopers in the city above, 900 of them in total. The pistols that the resistance had been able to buy were indeed a evener of odds, but it just gave them a slight edge. It was an razor edge that which if this plan didn't work out then they would be captured and hanged.

It was a risk Thinker and the rest of the underground were willing to make for the 10,000 players forced to stay within the confines of the city under their PLA masters. They may not embrace the rebels as their leaders after this but they would be thankful at least for the freedom to move about the country side and get stronger so they could escape the game eventually. So the rebels moved into position throughout the city, in teams of three or five, getting ready to ambush the patrols of PLA that kept a semblance of order in Nuln.

Thinker stopped and turned to a door way in the sewers wall, he opened it leading to a stair well. He lead the way for his comrades up the stairs and into the tavern." Make yourselves at home and get some breakfast, no PLA are here right now so enjoy the peace while you can."

/

Middenheim  
A Few Moments Before Sunrise

For the past hour the fifty Golden Wolves had been resting in the basement of a tavern called 'The Laughing Jackass'. A few of their number going top side to get warm food for them from the kitchens above while they waited for the second part of their plan to start. They were very close to their destination now, they were only a level below the streets of the city which spawned them a month ago and only a few hundred yards from their first real objective, the Westgate.

If the Golden Wolves had possession of that gate then their re-enforcements could arrive and they could proceed in liberating the city.

Adler was sitting on the floor across from a window, watching and waiting for the sun to rise. At his side Argo was catching a cat nap, resting her back against his right shoulder. She had been going as long as Adler had been after all since the Averlanders attack a few days previous. She had the bonus of mental strain as well since she was an info broker and had to keep near constant contact with her associates, the planning for the coming battle hadn't helped her stress levels. So with the opportunity to take a well-deserved moment of rest arose she took it. Adler was tired, but he kept pushing himself more and more since they were so close to the end of their journey.

Her nap didn't last much longer though. As the sun finally crested the walls of Middenheim and filled the street above with sun light, Adler shook Argo awakening her." Uh eh?" She asked as she looked around.

"It's time to move." Adler spoke to her before he stood up. Then he spoke loud enough for the rest of his boys to hear." Get up gents, time to go top side."

Argo stood and was the first to climb upstairs followed by her scouts and the Golden Wolves. She reached the taverns door and behind her the rest of her companions stopped. Argo opened the door and looked out to the deserted street and the nearby graveyard beyond, she spoke while looking out." I'll go on ahead and scout for the PLA, you guys stay here an-" From behind she heard dozens of menus open up and as she pulled her head back into the tavern to find out what was going on. Argo was surprised to see that the Golden Wolves had shed their wolf cloaks and missed matched clothing for something uniform. They each wore the blue uniform of a state trooper, wearing a sallet helmet and breast plate, two of which carried a banner and a drum.

Adler smirked in his officer's garb at her, wearing an open faced, plumed, wolf helm and a steel inscribed cuirass." We're not actually states troops you see." He winked at Argo.

The information broker then understood why they had been selected for this mission, with the regularity of the weapons and uniforms, alongside with those in them, the Golden Wolves looked like State Troopers of Middenheim. They could look like any other NPC soldier in the city and with a commander who already looked like an NPC… But there was one flaw with their plan." Your recitals…." She pointed above Adler's head.

He chuckled, understanding what she meant and said to her." You'll see soon enough how were going to hide them." He then gave a slight bow and held his hand out to the door." Ladies first."

Argo took the offer of going out first and walked outside but then going into an ally way next to the tavern. Adler and his golden wolves followed after him, forming up into a pair of companies in the street facing the west. The first was the unit of Halberdiers, twenty seven to be exact along with a drummer, standard bearer and Adler leading them. The second company was twenty crossbowmen, their weapons drawn and shouldered. The halberdiers were drawn up into a unit five across and six deep. The crossbowmen were two yards behind the Halberdiers in their own unit of five across and four deep.

Adler waved his right hand forward giving the order." Battalion March!" He began walking and his men followed after him. After stumbling into each other in the first few steps, the Golden Wolves straighten out their marching order with help from their drummer, who played a simple beat for the players to walk to. Argo and her scouts kept to the alley ways, scurrying ahead of the main group of players always on the lookout for the black and white checker pattern the PLA wore on their uniforms.

To those players who had been trapped in Middenheim and not part of the PLA, as they rested in the alley's or doorways trying to keep warm in the early morning, the sight of the players drew many stares. But those were from the people who had woken up and they were far and few between at day break. The few that were awake and amongst their friends gathered around small fire barrels to warm their limbs, they spoke in quite tones as they watched the procession pass by. Before they could investigate or bring the news to anyone else in the city, one of the skaven would appear and offer a few silver coins to those that had seen the players. The trapped Middenheimers would accept the money and forget all about what they had seen, after all many if not all of them hadn't a penny to their name from being deprived of hunting of mobs.

The Golden Wolves then turned onto a street a few hundred yards away from the Westgate, the suns at their back they marched west towards the PLA position at the gates. Argo was ahead of her scouts and managed to get a good look at the PLA defenses. They were designed to be defended from threats within the city with sandbags surrounding the gates, with opening to allow for NPC traffic to pass through harmlessly. The swivel guns on the sandbags and along a section of the tower were designed to stop anyone from exiting. The PLA themselves were of a much lower quality than that which attacked the Golden Wolves a days earlier, because they hadn't been able to draw upon the 'resources' the Averlanders had been able to. Those resources being the funds of captured collectors and being able to fight tougher mobs unhindered by rebels.

The guards wore heavy leather or light metal armor in pieces and had little uniformity amongst them, save for the ranged oriented blokes had match lock muskets. They were of poorer quality than even wheel locks and the cities own guard weapons, but still had the stopping power as those other weapons. If a player was hit out in the field it would be fairly bad for their HP bar, doubly so if it was a head shot, but in the confines of the city it would do little more than knock a person over or with a head shot knock them out. That was if the person getting shot was from the same starting city though, if that person wasn't then he or she would suffer the same injuries as they would in the field.

Argo watched the guards lazily watch outwards for the presence of Golden Wolves or a few turn their gaze inwards to watch for any rabble rousers amongst the population of Middenheim. Her breath was caught in her throat as she watched one of the guards looked directly at the incoming Golden Wolves. He blinked an raised a hand above his forehead to shield his eyes, he then shook his head and then turned back around to rest against his sand bag. It took her a moment to understand why the guard hadn't roused his companions into action and unload the swivel guns at the Golden Wolves, but it made sense to her when she saw the guard raise his hand up. He was blinded by the rising sun, the reticles would of impossible to see as were the details of the Golden Wolves. They would appear as simple NPCs and not an enemy force at a distance. But as the distance closed those differences would become much more noticeable. It would only be a matter of time till the PLA would notice…

The Golden Wolves were twenty yards from the gate when another PLA guard looked at the approaching fake state troopers. Unlike the first guard who just shrugged off the incoming Golden Wolves, this guard saw the reticles above the Golden Wolves heads. He punched one of his comrade in the arm." Hey there's trouble co-" Before he could finish his sentence, Adler shouted." Charge! Charge!" He and his halberd armed guild mates charged at the gates, the standard bearer joining them as the drummer beat his drum tunelessly quickly.

Half of the PLA guards were still asleep, they were resting for their shift in another hour, that meant there were twenty guards on duty at the moment. Half of which were armed with the matchlocks, most of them though were more concern with what may happen outside of the walls rather than within. The only guard to get off a shot before the Golden Wolves leapt over the sandbags was the guard that had noticed the recitals above the players heads. His shot caught a wolf in the chest as he stood over the sandbagged wall, it knocked him over and dented his armor, knocking the wind from him, but still he was still awake. The guard that shot the wolf was knocked out by a halberd blow to the head.

The fight in and around the gate was savage, quick and mostly done by the Gold Wolves in less than a minut. They struck the half asleep guards with strikes to the head with their halberds, knocking them down and out. They moved quickly easily over powering the guards from their higher strength characteristic. At the base of the stairs leading to the top of the gate house Adler drew his pistols as he climbed to the top, his banner man right behind him. He unloaded his first pistol at a guard at the top of the stairs, catching him in the chest and knocking him to the cobblestone below. The second shot he fired at the leg of a PLA man on the top of the wall, the guard was standing above him with a match lock aimed for his head. The pistol shot was the first fired and the matchlock fired as its user collapsed onto the ground still conscious his head over the wall above the staircase. With a swift head-butt delivered by Adler though, since they were at the same level of head height, the man was knocked out.

Adler then holstered his pistols and drew his warhammer. The last three guards saw him as he reached the top of the stairs, they were protecting the gate house proper and were armed with melee weapons. One of them though got a good look at Adler and recognized him from the wanted posters plastered on the gate below." Oh shit." He said and took a step back, his comrades saw what he did and then realized that they were looking right at Adler. His reputation as barbarian rebel leader, who was brutal and merciless in his fighting, who was said to of taken on several bosses all by himself, had a certain fearful effect on the PLA guards. It didn't help them that Adler had a 10,000 gold piece reward, from the Averlander PLA since they could afford it, for his head because of his actions against them.

Adler smirked at the trio." Drop your weapons and put your hand up, then join your buddies at the entrance. Be quick now or I'll throw each of you off the walls… and it looks to be a long way down." A mile to be precise, but even at a hundred feet it would be a practically nasty death, many players who had given up hope of escaping had already taken that option. The guards then threw down their weapons one by one, put their hands over their heads and after a short discussion amongst themselves that the best way to satisfy Adler's order was to jump down to the melee below. The trio jumped down and landed hard on their bodies, finding themselves quickly surrounded by the halberdiers who they promptly surrender to.

Adler roared in laughter as the remaining six guards followed their fellow's examples.' It's like watching lemmings.' He then lead his standard bearer to the top of the gate house." Start waving it." Adler spoke to the Golden Wolf.

"Yes boss!" The standard bearer then started to wave the flag, a golden wolf over a white and blue quarter field. Below in the forest thousands of bots emerged from the tree line along with 150 Golden Wolves. Jack was leading this group as they started to run up the ramparts of the Westgate towards the city. There were more practical ways, the easiest was to just send a PM consisting of 'Doors open, come on in'. But it wasn't as cinematic as a the early morning sun rising over the city, the Golden Wolves flag dancing amongst the light rays and with thousands of bots marching up the stone highways to the city of the white wolf.

As the Golden Wolves made their way up into the city their raiding party was still at work. The Halberdiers slung their weapons over their shoulders or rested them against the sandbags as they went to work tying up the PLA. Despite being knocked out the guards had the harassment window appear in front of them. Unlike the first time the Golden Wolves fought at the west gate a month ago, where they escaped into the forest before the original 'Occupy' movement had awaken. If the PLA had pressed 'yes' on being harassed that one of the Golden Wolves who had harassed or knocked them out would be sent to the city's jail for a day. So when that PLA guard awoke from unconsciousness he would meet a Golden Wolf who would give him a choice. Either the guard would press 'no' on the harassment window and follow his or hers instructions and survive or the Golden Wolf would throw him off the Ulricsberg while still tied up.

To the PLA guards that were still awake the process was sped up a bit, they just needed to open up their menu's and surrender all their money and equipment to the Golden Wolves, who would add the cash to the guilds treasury and when things had quitted down would sell the equipment and add the money to the treasury. Then the guard would be taken into custody with no further harm done to them. Then again if they didn't want to do that there was all ways the long drop from the top of the walls….

While the Halberdiers were working on the prisoners the crossbowmen on the other hand were taking care of setting up defenses at the gates. They took up positions with the swivel guns and behind the sandbags with their crossbows. Their re-enforcements were to be arriving soon, but between now and the mile long hike the PLA guards could make a counter attack and take back the gate if they concentrated their forces.

The attack… never came. There were sightings of some PLA guards sent to investigate the going's on at the West Gate, but before they could send back a message Argo's own scouts had removed them from play, adding them to the pile of knocked out guards. Argo herself joined up with the Golden Wolves at the gate, some of the trapped players started to investigate as well getting near to the gates before being shouted off by the Golden Wolves.

Argo saw Adler walk down from the gate house, changing out of his officers armor into his 'Barbarian' outfit. Which consisted of his bare chest, wolf cloak, blue pants and fur trimmed boots. It must have been freezing to the man but he gave little indication he was affected by the cold. He saw her and waved." How'd you like the show so far?"

"It's been decent, looks like your plan is coming together. Though I wonder how you plan on topping the past five minutes in awesome?" Argo answered with a smirk. She had to give it to the Golden Wolves they certainly knew how to put on an event, but also be practical about what they did in the event. Argo had to wonder if Adler was a part time actor back in the real world.

Adler smiled and said." It wasn't all my idea, Jack was the guy who came up with the state troopers part and I realized that the sun could blind the players as well. And about topping the past five minutes…." His smile widen as the first of his re-enforcements arrived on horseback. They were single players with no soldiers and had musical instruments and banners instead of weapons. They hopped off their horses and tied them to posts by the gates. Adler then told Argo." Watch this."

He strode forward to his newly arrived players, his warhammer held across his shoulders." Well ladies and gents shall we begin?" They all had wicked grins, a few even snickering at what they were about to do. They nodded and Adler then turned his back to them, looking down the main street towards the black plague memorial.

He then opened his menu and selected an option Argo had never seen before. Adler bopped his head as if listening to a song, he repeated to press a button that looked like replay again and again. Then he started to stomp his feet in a rhythm beat, the drummers started to copy the beat at the same time. Adler started to march to the beat and started to sing." _Buddy you're a boy make a big noise playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day! You got mud on your face yo' big disgrace, kicking your can all over the place. Signin'_-" Then he and his musicians sang at the same time." _We will we will rock you! We will we will rock you_!"

This was getting the attention of the trapped players who were being woken up by the song or were already awake and being drawn to the music. The city was waking up to one of the most recognizable 'pump up' songs in the world. Even Argo had heard the song in her time in the real world. She admitted to herself as she joined a growing procession behind Adler, that the Golden Wolves had gone over the top up to ridicules levels in the liberation of Middenheim. Argo loved every moment of it.

/

_Altdorf, The Reikland-Middenland border and Nuln  
The Morning of December 7th_

When Colonel Montgomery Tavington saw the enemy army he was surprised to see them south of Fort Schuler. He thought for sure they were going to dig in for a siege around the fort another mile up the road. Instead the Golden Wolves had set up a battery of 6 falcones and a mortar facing down at his army.

The battlefield he was presented with was grassy foot hills ringing around a gully, on the south side of the gully his army occupied the high ground while on the northern side the Golden Wolves and their allies had a somewhat lower hill they were camped on. The gully spanned only 600 yards at most but due to it being a hundred yards down at a steep angle, followed by it being steep on the way back up to the enemy lines, if Tavington made the attempt to charge at the Golden Wolves it would take maybe twice or three times the amount of time it would normally take for his men to cross the distance. With those light cannons it would be extremely hazardous for his players to do so even with the bots being the meat shields. If the players stayed on the hill and not mixed with their units then they could be easily run down if the enemy broke their soldiers.

The enemy consisted of an Middenheim/Beastman alliance. Ahead of him were thousands of beastmen and some Golden Wolves who provided specialist weapons and troops. They consisted of hand gunners and those damn cannons and hung back at the higher portion of the hill. The lower half of the hill and the gully were filled with beastmen, thousands of bots armed with everything from spears to paired close combat weapons. He knew that from conversations with Douglass, Fort Schulars commander, that there was at least another thousand beastmen bots and two more falcones aimed at the fort's walls to keep the garrison within the walls.

'Knowing Beastmen they have a few other ambushes planned' Tavington thought. He had had conversations with the table top gamers who joined WAO over the past few weeks about what the PLA could expect from their enemies. There were table top rules that had been transferred to the game, this was evident in the Empires detachment system and the Reiklanders ability to shoot better along with a better sense at controlling bots. From what understood the Beastmen were able to spring ambushes in the table top game and had the hatred characteristic against all humans in close combat, this allowed them to hit more often. There were rumors that the Middenlanders had a similar ability against players and bots with low leadership.

So he had to keep an eye out for any more of the beasties showing up in addition to fighting a battle up hill and under fire. His own forces consisted of 230 archers, 300 pistoliers and another 2,000 halberdiers. His force was built for speed to relieve the defenders of Fort Schuler and not to be the heavy fighting force that had to fight through defenders.

Tavington raised the spyglass to his eye as he sat upon his horse. He saw the defenders commanders, they were gathered at the top of the hill looking back at him. He could see that they were from all different cities and factions. There was the big guy in red cloak and armor similar to that the Altdorfians had, Tavington made a mental note that this was most likely Eugene who was one of the PLA's banes in Altdorf. The other humans were a young Asian Golden Wolf and another Asian, female this time, dressed in the garb of a Nulnate with a brace of double barreled pistols. The last of the commanders was a beastmen armed with a pair of axes who glared daggers at Tavington despite being 1,500 feet away.

Montgomery saw the beastman open his menu to send out a message and his human comrades talking to him. A few second's later Tavington heard a shout from one of his men." Sir, to the west!" Montgomery turned his head to the left and saw a large dust cloud start to form a mile away over the hills. Then he saw them, hundreds of beastmen centigors and dozens of player driven chariots crested a hill at their flank, but instead of charging they held back their attack in plain view of the two hundred PLA soldiers.

With a sudden start Tavington realized that even if he moved enough Halberdiers to counter a charge from the beastmen then he wouldn't be able to enough to break through the next two enemy lines to Fort Schuler. He opened his menu and typed a message to his superior in Altdorf.' We cannot relieve the siege on fort Schuler and are currently facing a pincer maneuver. I will bring the men back to Altdorf to regroup, I will need at least another three thousand men, spearmen, handgunners and artillery men ready to go when I arrive.'

Tavington sent the message and then called aloud to his sub commanders." Heinz, Markov, Hogan! I have orders." His men, Heinz the archer, Markov the Pistolier and Hogan the Halberdier commander rode up close to him." Yes boss?" Hogan asked.

"Hogan I need you to select enough of your men that can fight on the move, I need… around 750 bots to serve as the rear guard. The rest I want to have ready to march back to the south when I give the order. Markov you'll be just ahead of the rear guard, if the beastmen charge with their chairots and 4 legged friends then I want you and you men to counter charge them when they are about to get into melee with the halberdiers. Heinz I want you and your men to range ahead of the rest of us, if there is going to be any more ambushes I want to be the first to know. Now I wan-" Tavington's orders were interrupted when he received a message from Altdorf.

It read, 'Don't come back, North side of city taken over by rebels they have the heavy cannons. North east side also fallen. Southern side of city looking bad, islands remain untouched. Altdorf looks to be lost.' Tavington swore under his breath and tore his eyes away from the message. He then closed the PM and open his map, if he couldn't retreat to Altdorf he had to find another way… there. He found a way to retreat and his men to survive, it may not of been to Altdorf but it was to the strong hold of Averland… but not only his own men either could make the escape.

He closed the map and then opened his PM to type a message to his superior.' Find boats good sir, see about getting to castle Reikguard we'll meet you there in a day at most after that we'll see about escaping further to Nuln or Averland.' He sent the PM and closed his menu completely. Tavington then said to his commanders." Change of plans were not going to Altdorf. There's a bridge north of Gelrect that'll take us to safety across the Talbec for now."

/

With the last of the PLA soldiers in the South Eastern district thrown into guard station prison's, leaving behind well over half his men to look after them, Mortimer opened his message box as he stood in front of the temple of Shallya. He clicked through them reading each one which had been sent since the uprising began. Gars had control of the northern bank of the city as did Stern on the North Eastern bank. The entirety of the southern portion of the city was under the control of the rebels.

Outside of the city the garrison at Fort Schuler had surrender to Eugene. With them out of the way there was now a clear corridor that Altdorfans and Middenheimers could pass through without worry of PLA tolls. Mortimer did a quick check of his guilds treasury and was pleased to note the fact that with all the captured PLA players his people were able to amass thousands of gold pieces from their equipment and their own coin.

There was a another matter though that was quite disturbing. In addition to all the captured PLA there was still the matter of all those who had escaped. By his reckoning that included the response regiment of two hundred and the island garrisons, which had sailed up the Reik to the south. Some of Sterns troops were able to sink one of their ships with the wall's heavy cannons… but still that meant there was another hundred players left unaccounted for. The Altdorfians couldn't go after them now, not when there was the entire population of Altdorf to… guide.

To the word 'rule' was too strong of a word to use right now, especially after being under the occupation of the PLA for the past month. His guild would offer 'options' to the populace, such as open enrolment in a new guild he was co-running up called ' The Imperial Army' or to go free and wander the world on their own with limited resources which were bled dry over the past month under occupation. So they would have a choice, but his offer of helping them would be much better received and in effect he calculated that if he had even a few thousand players in his guild then he would in effect run the city of Altdorf.

Speaking of the co-heads of the Imperial Army reminded him to check up on them. He selected his brother and wrote a PM to him.' Good work bro', I'll be sending a garrison force to occupy Fort Schuler by tonight. Be sure that the Golden Wolves are the one's occupying the fort, till then we do not want our Beastmen allies to hold it down. We do not want them to get comfortable in our territory.' He sent out the message and then selected Steve.

Before Mortimer could type the first word a group of children ran bye, they were most likely orphans. Their parents having bought game for them, either not caring that the game was really rated AO or they had joined their child in the game but had been separated by some means, most likely the separation was fatal if it was the latter case. He overheard one of them saying to his friend." His name's Steve, he's one of Mortimer's General's. That's why he's giving a speech in front of the palace."

Mortimer looked at them as they ran to the western side of the city where the Imperial Palace was, he thought.' That isn't right; I didn't tell him to give any speeches till the city was secure… unless.' He then began running to the Imperial Palace, its gothic skyline towering above all the city save for the Grand Temple of Sigmar.

As he ran towards the building he started to hear the clamoring of the crowds as they gathered. As he turned a corner he saw that there were thousands of players gathered around a raised podium, with a pair of flags crossed behind him. The flags were of a red field with a black stylized griffen on them, the symbol of Altdorf. But that wasn't what caught his attention, up on the stage with a mega phone Steve was speaking to the crowds."- And in addition to the new clothes if you join the Imperial Army you'll also be able to get paid with no taxes taking away most of it! So I ask you again, what other job in the world will let you kick the ass of the PLA on a daily bases, where you also keep your loot and comes along with a bitchin' new uniform!"

Steve then raised his arms urging the crowd to speak. The sound was deafening, but even as Mortimer heard it his heart sank because someone else had stolen away his and his brothers victory." THE IMPERIAL ARMY!" He should have been the one giving the speech, he had even wrote the damn thing and had shared it with Eugene and Steve to get their opinion. Now some waiter had plagiarized him to take the credit of the liberation of Altdorf and beyond now with the creation of the Imperial Army… Mortimer hated to admit it but his respect for Steve had gone up a few pegs now that he had shown some ruthlessness and political suaveness.

He saw Steve then open his window game window and a moment later Mortimer saw Steve light up red, he was giving out a ping to find him. A moment later Steve then looked in Mortimer's direction and spoke into the megaphone." Hey Mortimer come on up here buddy! Everyone clear a path for Mort, he's one of the men responsible for you all being free right now." People were murmuring as they started to realize where the player was and a path opened up in front of him.

Mortimer was put on the spot and he couldn't turn back now even if he wanted to. He began walking down the path to the stage, as he did so Steve talked into the megaphone." Hey lets give this guy a big round of applause! He deserves it after today!" The crowd clapped and hollered, involuntarily Mortimer's step picked up speed as he ran to the stage.

Once Mortimer got to the stage's base and Steve lowered his hand to the guildmaster, helping him up onto the stage. They stood infront of the crowds arm in arm, Mortimer waving and smiling. Through gritted teeth Mortimer spoke to Steve in a tone of voice only they could hear." After today I will remember to get some extra back armor and sharpen some daggers." Steve then replied through his own smile, waving at the thousands of players that turned out to see their liberators." Likewise."

/

In Nuln there were no celebrations. There was no drinking, there was no cheering or singing. There was only the sound of gunfire within the cities walls.

When the uprising began an hour ago it was focused in the northern third of the city, in the Altestadt quarter and the high gate. The reasons why it was decided to be done in this part of the city was first because it was cut off from the rest of the city by a wall within the northern third of the city. After clearing the wall the rebels could hold the High Gate, stopping the PLA from entering or exiting the district. The second reason was because when the uprising began the rebels could quickly strip the unconscious PLA soldiers once they awoke and use their own firearms to arm the populace and sell what other equipment they had to equip more of the oppressed citizens with guns.

The uprising itself was extremely fast and brutal. In small groups the human rebels, along with their skaven allies, walked up to, ambushed in the alley ways or otherwise caught them in a compromising position and unloaded their pistols at their heads. In five minutes of fire and smoke over 200 PLA members were knocked out and removed as threats from Altestadt quarter. The skaven allied proceeded to tie up the PLA and remove them to the Undercity where they would no longer be safe from the protection the game laws gave them.

After that the rebels split up, one half would gather the players recently liberated players and the other half would prepare for the defense of the Altestadt from the PLA. The attack came just a few minutes later from the Nuestadt section of the city with two separate charges on the High Gate itself and at the North Western most tower of the high gate wall, which met at the main junction point of the main defensive wall. Both had around a hundred PLA attack at the same time. If the rebels had been armed with just single shot pistols then they would have been easily overrun.

But they were armed with double barreled pistols, each rebel carried a brace of the firearm. This gave them access to an almost insane, for this world's standard, amount of shots. When the PLA were little more than a few feet away from the resistance's Sappers hastily erected barriers, the rebels then jumped up from behind them and proceeded to unload all their pistol shots at point blank range at the PLA. If this had been real life half of those pistols would of failed to ignite and if they were fired then there was about a quarter chance of the bullet actually hitting its target not to mention aiming the damn thing would be a chore and a half…

The players though were in a video game. If the guns were well maintained then they may cause a flash in the pan or blow up, but otherwise they would fire if they were brand new like these pistols. The accuracy on the pistols were much more forgiving for the player shooting the pistol. combined with being able to aim with crosshairs. When the rebels began to fire at the PLA their charge was first slowed, by the players falling over their fallen comrades, then faltered when the pile had gotten to a point where the reinforcing players had to go around the falled PLA and then breaking when the last few ranks realized that with the streets and walls plugged up with wasn't going to stop with them. This happened in only thirty seconds but by the time it was over 140 and more of the PLA were knocked down and out, their survivors running back into the safety of the district. It was no wonder that the pistols were gaining the nickname 'Liberators'.

In another five minutes the first of the new recruits started to show up. They were armed with nothing more extravagant then a wheel lock harquebus and a banderole of wooden cartilages, but they proved to be very useful on helping to tie up the newly captured PLA. They also began serving as replacements as well, when the PLA counter attack first came there were a dozen PLA members that were shot but knocked out. Only a few were able to escape, but those that did had pressed 'yes' on being harassed thus sending city guards after 6 of the rebels who were brought to jail.

So the new recruits, despite having a much lower level and equipment that even a state trooper would scoff at, were proving their worth. Soon the High gate was filled with scores of the newly liberated players. When they reached over a hundred Thinker, who had been at the High Gate leading the defense, gave the order to advance to the water front.

The new recruits lead the way, being the ones usually sniped at from the retreating PLA. The new rebels unleashed uncoordinated volleys at the retreating PLA, a few bullets catching them and knocking a few down and an occasional player out. They were able to push the PLA to the water front and to the both the Great Bridge and the Glory Bridge. At 40 minutes into the liberation of Nuln it was stopped dead in its tracks by the barriers and swivel guns of the PLA. When they lanced out at the new recruits they fell by the dozens with the grape shot, the rebels then pulled back to gather their strength.

With the path to the bridges blocked Thinker opened his menu a safe distance away at the Imperial Gunnery School. He then wrote a single message to one team which had been kept in reserve.' Take Iron Tower within ten minutes.' Then he waited as more new recruits flowed into his growing army….

Under the bridge on Aver island, where the Reik met the river Aver, eight players read the message and they started to move under the bridge. Five of them were Skaven and three were humans. Seven of the players were male while the only female was a human player armed with not a brace of Liberators, but rather a Hochland Long Rifle which when propped up onto its butt was much taller than her.

The group of players started to move under the bridge, going into the water would have been dangerous with the currents of three different rivers meeting at one place. Instead the players had set up a rope underneath the Iron Bridge during the previous night leading to the Iron Tower, there were other ropes to the Glory and Reik bridges as well if they had been told to go to the other parts of the city. With their legs wrapped around the rope they pulled themselves under the bridge directly under the Iron Tower.

The Skaven leader carefully moved away from the rope and over to the side of the bridge. He lifted his eyes high enough over the side of the railings to see what was happening by the Iron Tower, after a few seconds of observing he ducked down below the bridge and signed to his fellow Skaven.' Two guards, one on each side of bridge. No guards on over side, group of five PLA re-enforcements coming. Shooter's (being the humans) go to tower. We drown guards."

Four of the skaven, including the leader moved up to the sides of the bridge, the remaining ratman explained what was going to happen to the humans. The humans themselves moved further along under the bridge and then onto the sides. The Skaven leader then took out a heavy piece of stone work, about thirty pounds worth of rubble, with a rope tied around it with a noose at the end. He set the stone behind the guard on the bridges fence when the re-enforcements passed bye along with another of his men.

He gave the single to his Skaven comrades and they moved. The leader placed the noose around the PLA man's neck as did his fellow skaven on other side of the bridge. Before the men could react two more Skaven pulled the men over the wall's railing. The men then fell into the water below with the heavy stone work coming right after them. They were dragged down to the depths of the river unable to breath. They may not be able to die via direct damage within their home city but there were other ways of killing players. When the person's breath meter ran out below the water then they would die.

The skaven and humans then climbed over the bridges railings and booked it to the Tower. The skaven were the first in and the humans soon followed. Once the humans were inside they turned around and closed the door to the tower, bracing it with chairs and tables. The skaven then lead the way up the metal stair case of the steel tower, stopping only when they reached the top. One of the skaven slowed down as he reached the top, he then peered through an open door way as he heard voices on the other side.

He ducked back in and spoke in hushed tones." 3 PLA officers, two soldiers. Talking about getting ready for an attack at the Gunnery School."

The humans stepped forward, the two pistol armed rebels." We'll take care of it." One of the two spoke. The human girl stayed back and unslung her long rifle silently, when the shooting started she needed to start sniping some PLA down below.

The Skaven leader nodded to his subordinate to let the humans do their thing. He stepped out of the door way so they could move up, their pistols out. The second human placed a palm on the first's shoulder and the first said a moment later." I take right you take left. Go!"

The pair of pistol packing rebels bolted through the doorway. The PLA officers and their guards turned to the disturbance. The resistance members then started to unload their pistols at the PLA heads. In a flurry of shots the PLA didn't know they were under attack before they were knocked out. One of them pitched over backwards over the towers railing to the ground a hundred feet below, the result was messy but he was still alive… just out of the game as his organs regenerated.

"Sinon, me and Dalton will man the cannon's. You take care of the gun crews at the Glory Bridge." Cassidy, formally the lead shooter on the clearing, said to the little sniper. Sinon, who was dressed in an black military style tunic and knee length black skirt, rested her sniper rifle on the northern portion of the round towers railing." Roger. Squeakori message back to Thinker we have the tower and are going to hold it as long as possible."

Sinon sighted down her scope, making adjustments for the wind and elevation, before settling her crosshairs onto a target. The target she was aiming at was an officer or a sergeant on the Glory Bridge, she could tell from the better uniform with its checkered shoulder pads to the fact that he was waving his arms pointing from a subordinate to the barricade. At the back of her mind, Sinon wondered why it seemed that since the rifling was invented that leaders would always make the same mistake again and again of making themselves an target to the enemy…. She cocked the flintlock and then laid her crosshairs on his head, with a release of breath she squeezed the trigger. A split second later the musket cracked with the high quality gun powder igniting, propelling the bullet down the rifled grooves of the handgun. Sinon saw the bullet's vapor trail from her scope and then the PLA officer falling over from the bullet to the head 300 yards away.

She had to thank Thinker again after this was over, when she wanted to invest her money into the Long Rifle than a brace of Liberators she had shown him her skill with the handgun. That consisted of shooting a bottle out from a PLA soldier's hand at a hundred yards. When he saw that he told her to get the rifle and also told that he had a special mission for her… so here she was.

Back at the Gunnery School, Thinker received the messaged from Squeakori. He then stood and waved at his troops to get their attention." Listen up!" He ordered, getting the attention of both his vets and the new recruits.

" I want all the new recruits to gather to me. Sundance will gather up the vets and more recruits between now and in the next ten minutes. When those ten minutes are up Sundance will lead an attack on the Great Bridge. Recruits, were going to take the Glory Bridge!" He lifted his fist into the air as he started to walk to the Glory Bridge. There was a roar of approval from the newbs as they joined him in his march.

When the army of newbs were a hundred yards from the Glory Bridge they found that the PLA were taking shelter behind the barriers on the northside of the bridge. They were taking cover from the cannons and sniper rounds from the Iron Tower. Thinker stopped his small army and said." Fire!" The players then stopped and started to fire their handguns, not all at once but more or less at the same time when he gave the order. The rounds lanced out and started to strike the PLA soldiers, eventually enough hit the cowering soldiers that they were knocked out or hit.

"Move up to the barrier and reload. If you have rope tie up the PLA on the ground." He walked up to the barrier and watched the Iron Tower. His specialist team was doing an amazing job at wrecking the PLA defenses and their leadership on both the Glory Bridge and the Great Bridge. Sundance would have an easy time capturing the Great Bridge….

Then he received an urgent message from one of his contacts in Altdorf. It said that Altdorf had been liberated and that the remaining free PLA were on the run. The problem being that the running PLA were hundreds of players and thousands of bots strong and they were moving to the south.

Thinker thought about what this meant. He had around a hundred 'vet' players in his ranks as well as a few hundred more newbs. The vets could go toe to toe with the PLA and the newbs were admittedly a step above the State Troops. But the PLA outnumbered his force by the thousands in sheer numbers of bots, they could over run his forces easily. Even if they were able to take the whole city today then that would mean their forces would be stretched to the limit looking after the prisoners. If they could dispose of the prisoners then the rebels might have a chance of manning the guns of Nuln and turning back the PLA. But that would be impossible since only the northerners had the resources to hold that many players and there was no way they were going to be transported up north with an army coming south. If he turned them loose then they could just join up with Averland and steam roll the entire rebellion or take back Nuln in a day.

That left one option… but did he really want to take that step? Did he really want to become a monster just so that thousands more people had a better chance of surviving this death game? Most of the PLA members were like any other player as well, they wanted to escape the game they had just chosen to follow the wrong ideology. Then there was their leader who were as ruthless as any other despot in history. They had killed and robbed any and all who opposed them and had killed dozens of Thinker's men and hundreds of other players just in the Empire alone... then there was the horror show called the night of the long horns.

The question of that last, horrible and terrible, option was no longer and 'if' but a matter of when. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, keeping his tears from forming. How had it come to this, how could he go from the owner of a MMO site to now a leader of thousands of players and murderer of hundreds.

He opened his eyes and wiped the corners of his eyes. He had a job to do, there was more of the city to liberate, when he came to the final decision he would make it. Till then he had a city to take.

" Ten of you stay behind to watch over the prisoners. The rest follow me, were going to Aver Island!" He then strode forward, his people following him.

In Nuln there were no celebrations. There was no drinking, there was no cheering or singing. There was only the sound of gunfire within the cities walls.

/

_Middenheim City of the White Wolf  
Mid-Morning of December 7th 2022_

Adler met with the commander of the PLA in Middenheim, the man was standing with his hands tied behind his back on top of the East Gate. Commander Keith was stripped of his armor and weapons, leaving him in just his base clothing with which he started the game, shivering in the cold or fear because of it. Adler's guildmates, the ones he had kept in reserve on the eastern side of Middenheim in the forests just in case any of the PLA had decided to run while the main push of guildmates had made their way from the west, had caught Keith running alone from the city. He understood that the city was under attack from the Golden Wolves when the West Gate had fallen so he ran.

If the commander had decided to order a general retreat from Middenheim or rallied the PLA to take on the Golden Wolves there was a good chance that Adler would be in his position or the Golden Wolves would be chasing after him in Middenland along with the remains of the PLA. Instead he had given the order for his players to stay and defend the remaining gates while he made his escape. That was he attempted escape. The Golden Wolves were able to spot him escaping on horseback as he galloped down the highway and intercepted him with their own riders when he reached the bottom of the road way.

When the PLA at the East Gate saw him get captured, who were already demoralized from seeing him run, they knew that there wasn't any hope left for them. They surrendered to the Golden Wolves without a fight, as did the other two gate houses when they learned about the East Gate's actions. Now they were gathered up behind the East Gate on the street below, bound but willing prisoners, who were separated from the throngs of formally trapped players. Of the latter group there were a few score that left to explore the game world on their own, but most stayed behind when there was an opportunity to hear from the leader of their liberators, Adler.

As it was he needed to tend to one last piece of business before addressing the crowds and that was to the leader of the Middenheim PLA. Adler smiled and put his hands on the man's shoulders." Hey don't be so scared, its not like I'm going to hurt you."

Whatever the commander was expecting Adler to say, that was not it."W-what?" He asked, disbelief in his voice as he looked into Adlers eyes.

Adler smiled happily, his eyes seemingly mimicking the action." I said I won't harm you. Why would I? I mean I have no reason to after all. Our little rivalry was more of a difference of opinion that had gotten out of hand. I think you have more reason to be angry with me since I may of shot you back when I escaped. In-fact…." He then snapped his fingers and one of his men used a knife to cut the ropes binding the commander's hands." You're not a threat to me."

The commander's eyes filled with hope, moving his hands to the side then cracking his wrists." So am I free to go?" He asked.

Adler smiled and turned around, he then began walking to the stairs as he spoke." That is totally up to the people who do have a grudge with you." The commander was then grabbed by his arms from a pair of Golden Wolves, a teenage Chinese girl and a middle aged man Indian.

Then Pavlov walked in front of him with a wicked smirk on his face." You don't know me, you don't know my brother also. You will never get to meet my older brother. We were separated on the first day and weren't able to meet up when I escaped. He tried to lead a group of players out on the third day, but you ordered the PLA to fire as they went down the highway. He died from a bullet to the back."

The commander's face then blanched at the story. Pavlov then pulled back a fist and delivered a bow to the commander's chest, knocking the wind out of him and if it wasn't for the two players holding him up he would of fallen. The Indian man then said with malice." You ordered your men to chase after my group, they killed my son. I saw his throat slit when he tried to surrender." The Chinese girl spoke with venom in her voice." My brother was with me when we getting ready to escape this city. Your men found him buying horses and once they took his money threw him off the walls."

Pavlov was handed a noose from another player atop the gate house." You are not free to go. But you will not live another minute in this city." The commander then tried to struggle against the players, the harassment menu appearing before him but unable to press it. Pavlov then tied the noose around the man's neck.

"I'll see you in hell." Pavlov spoke, the two players letting go of the former commander. The Russian teen then kicked him off the gate house to the walls outside of the city.

Adler stood on the inside of the city, on the street leading to the gate. He watched as the commander's body fell down outside the city walls then jerk suddenly as it was stopped by the rope. His neck didn't break, which was a shame since that would leave him to strangle to death as the noose tighten around his windpipe. The harassment menu was gone since he was outside of the city walls. The commander gripped the noose trying to allow himself away to breath but failed. His legs kicked as his HP ticked away, his eyes bulging out as well. Then the last of his HP was gone and his body stopped moving as he died.

Adler turned away from the body, the crowds cheering at the execution of their warden. The surviving PLA forced to watch though were silent or shivered in fear for they knew that they may be the next victims of the Golden Wolves. He walked on the street with his freed people yelling encouragements and thank you's as he made his way to the city center. He continued past them, not waving or turning to them, only with his right hand resting on his hammer's head on his right hip.

Argo watched from amongst the crowd, a hooded figure blending in with thousands of others. She watched Adler make his way to the park at the center of the city, where a stage was set up so he could deliver his speech to cap off today's events. It was a giant, horrible, terrific, show but still the most entertaining venue that the players had experienced so far in their new lives in the OId World.

Adler walked through the crowds to the Great Park where Jack was keeping the crowd's interest up. At Jacks orders, when Adler was nearing the stand, a the Golden Wolves few bag pipers began playing Scotland the Brave. Of course with a small tweaking that song would become 'Middenland the Brave'.

Adler walked up the stairs to the top of the stand, he looked out to the crowd as the song ended. The crowd grew silent as they waited for him to start his speech." December 7th 2022, a date which will live in our memory's for all our days to come." Adler spoke loudly and clearly to the freed people of Middenheim." It is a date which will be meaningless to the people in the real world. It is just another day to them while you, their friends and family are trapped in this madman's world. But to you though, to you, this date will be remembered for something much greater. In the future you will remember this day as the first real day of freedom to explore and to survive in the old world. Today you will remember it as your first step to truly escaping this hell. Today you are the heroes of your own story!"

He raised his hands up to them and the crowd cheered, almost deafeningly loud as over 12,000 players cheered at the warlord's words. Adler allowed himself to enjoy the moment of feeling like a boss, just a little. After a few moments he then pressed his left hand to his waist and lifted up his right to silence the crowd. This took a little longer then he expected but the crowd became silent once more." But you may ask who will become your story teller? Who will guide the heroes on their quest? It has to be someone who has proven to be a good leader, one who's ability to has been tested again and again. Someone who can take on the responsibiltys and hardships on helping the heroes escape. Ladies and gentlemen that man is right in front of you on this stage this morning and his name is…."

What Adler did next shocked Argo and thousands of other players into silence. He hopped next to Jack and wrapped and his right arm around his shoulder." Jack!"

The purposed leader of the Middenheimer's looked absolutely ashen. Jack's expression sold it that he had no way of expecting such a tribute. Who would of thought that Adler would give up such an opportunity to become a dictator to his second in command besides Jack?

Adler continued on after a few seconds of crickets chirping." I've thought long and hard about this decision. You don't need me or the Golden Wolves any longer. We've served our purpose of being warriors for your freedom. But now that you have gained it you need someone to lead you in the days to come. The time of small armies fighting each other are coming to a close, one day soon, maybe not tomorrow or the month afterwards, but one day armies million strong will march through the Empire. They will fight to either destroy it or to save it, but when that time comes then you will need to look to someone who can be your true leader and survive the chains of command. So to that I purpose Jack as your leader, as your general and most of all as your count!"

That got a round of applause and a few cheers, but nothing as loud as Adler was speaking on his own accord. Adler himself let go of Jack and then walked to the edge of the stage, he had a wide smile on his face as he opened his menu, speaking as he did so." Today I also will disband the Golden Wolves, but before that I will give all you players a parting gift." He then pressed a few buttons, open sacks full of silver coins then appeared on the stage. Golden Wolves then marched up behind each of the stacks and moved them to each side of the stand. The crowd began to crowd in around the stage, to which Adler gave a smirk." Here is the remaining treasury of the Golden Wolves to you fair players."

After a pause he continued." Be sure to stick around, Jack has some important announcements to make." He then gave a nod to his soon to be ex Golden Wolves money handlers, a moment before he pressed a button on his menu. At the same time as the ex-Golden Wolves began to throw the money from the bags of Silver, the symbol below their health bar which showed they belonged to a guild blinked out of existence. The crowd surged forward at the money and most didn't hear Adler's final words." The Golden Wolves are disbanded. May Sigmar and Ulric protect you!"

With that Adler turned around to leave the stage, at the stairs he took out a long brown coat from his inventory and put it on before leaping over the mob gathered at the base of the stage. He disappeared into the crowds. It would have been next to impossible for a normal player to track him with the press of bodies. But there was one who was determined to.

Argo kept her eyes on Adler from a distance, following him through the crowd. It wasn't out of spite or that she was stalking him, but rather it was a thirst for knowledge that drove her to follow him. It was hard, even with her skills, but she could still spot him in the crowd since he was making his way out of it. After more than a few minutes of fighting his way out Adler was free from the crowd and making his way to the south west of the city, Argo following him along the roof tops.

She followed him to a tavern in the South Western most corner of the city named 'The Drowned Rat', despite the slight tic she had from the name she wondered why he would to this place. Argo messaged her scouts telling them that she wasn't going to be available for a while, she didn't give the reason though, that would be giving to much info away.

Argo climbed down to the street and entered the tavern. It was a seedy establishment, dark and musky with a few unpleasant smells filling her nostrils. But the bar was well lit and that was where Adler was sitting. She over heard him talking to the NPC bartender." –And make sure it's Dwarfen Ale, the good stuff that most people can't afford."

Argo slipped into the seat next to him, pulling her hood down." I'll have what he's having." Adler did a double take when he saw Argo.

"How did you… I thought-" Argo gave a giggle to his expression and said." I am the Rat, if you need to find out what sort of tea President Darca drinks, I would answer with 'at what time of day'?"

Adler then got it and turned away to the mirror in front of him, saying under his breath." Sea turtles." The obscure Disney reference was lost on Argo.

Adler then asked as his stein of dwarfen ale was place before him, a moment later one tankard for Argo." So as to what pleasure does a former guild master host the Old Worlds foremost authority in info brokering?" He lifted the tankard to his lips.

"Oh I just want to learn a little more about your decision to disband the Golden Wolves and give up the opportunity of a life time ruling a city." Argo stated, to which Adler coughed up some of his beer into stein. He wiped the foam from his mustached upper lip.

Adler looked around to be sure there weren't any other players hiding in the shadows before answering." I like you Argo, you really helped so much that this revolution wouldn't be possible without you. But if I do answer me please, please, and for the third time please, do not share what I'm going to tell you today. I mean it personally."

Argo could hear him begging in his voice. She was sometimes cruel to her clients and her enemies yes, but hearing the older man actually beg that she keep some his secrets… she was moved to make an exception for once." I promise that I won't let anyone else besides us know what we talked about today."

Adler stared down at her trying to read her expression under her fur, after a moment he looked down at his stein." I left for… a few reasons." He took a sip from his stein to steady himself for the incoming questions.

Argo heard the answer, but it wasn't the one she was looking for." And what were they?" She took a gulp of the ale, which was many times better than the other beers she had drunk in this world.

"Well the first reason is that I'm rather horrible at leading large groups of people… and armies." Argo looked at Adler with a look that read 'Oh really?' Adler sighed and continued on." I said I'm not good at leading large groups, I seem to be good at around twenty people and at most fifty. The main leadership for the Golden Wolves I left to Jack, I've been their figure head and front line leader hack slash badass. But even I died they still would have been fine with Jack in charge. That's why we talked it over and I set it up so he can lead Middenheim's Imperial Army and maybe become its count."

"I haven't heard of you leading armies of bots around, so how do you know that you're not cut out to be a 'count'?" Argo asked him taking a light sip of the ale, not wanting to get drunk so soon into the conversation.

Adler gave a little chuckle." I've played Warhammer Total War and the table top game enough that I'm not cut out to be a real general. The only campaigns I won in the Total War games were on easy and after playing a couple hundred warhammer fantasy games I won only twenty at most. I can study all the history I want, learn all the tactics and talk smack about running the other guy into the ground… but my own ability really sucks when it comes to applying that knowledge. I'm actually surprised that I'm good at fighting especially when it comes to other players…." Adler's humor left his voice and he downed half the contents of his stein.

Argo realized that Adler had hit a sensitive area in his own emotions. Adler then spoke, his tone much more grim." I… I never wanted to live in this world. I had always wanted to visit or write fan fics about me dropping in the old world to introduce more modern weapons and 'saving the world'. But to live here I never wanted to do that, it was too dark and the chances of me living more than a week were grim. When the game was announced I thought that I could visit this world and be safe to return home."

Tears rolled down Alders cheeks and into his ale, he was taking in a deep breath. Argo watched this, her expression being that of concern for the big guy." Oh Adler." She said before he continued to speak.

Adler bent over the bar crying harder." Then that god damn fucking mad genius Kayaba makes it so we can't leave this twisted game and were able to kill each other. He made this world real! A real as it will ever be. He made It so people have to be afraid in a game, that's how you can tell If your living if you have fear. He made us into living digital creatures. No he made us digital monsters." He cried openly his hands on the back of head as he rested it against the bar.

Argo wrapped an arm around Adler. She had her own breakdown a while back, every player did when they realized what a crappy situation they were in. Adler was lucky though, he didn't have to go through this part alone unlike a lot of other players had to, including her.

Adler then spoke after a few minutes of crying, his tears slowing but not yet stopping." T-thank you…. It's time I tell you the last reason why I'm leaving Middenland."

Argo asked." Are you sure? We can stop if you like?"

Adler shook his head." No. If you wanted to hear the reasons then I'll share them, it wouldn't be fair to you after your promise." He took a deep breath and spoke clearly without the breathing irregularities when he cried." I was tempted to stay though. Any man would be. I could stay and become a king in all but name, I could raise entire armies, fight in huge wars against daemons all the while having heavy metal music playing in my head. But the reason why I gave it up, why I'm not going to become a barbarian warlord is because if I do that I'll forget who I am."

Argo was taken aback by that. Was he really saying this, that he might forget who he was. That was hard to do even for the players that really Role Played they would say things in keeping with the real world and there were constant reminders that they were in a game. She voiced her concerns." But that's impossible right? How can you forget who you are, especially since you realized that you 'could' loose yourself."

Adler grunted." When a person starts a job, they take on the role as that job dictates… no that's no good of an analogy. When a person starts high school there are cliques that they are eventually forced to join. They may have some traits that the clique has and they think don't even fit in with the clique at first. But as the months go bye they assume more and more of their cliques traits till eventually they consider themselves part of that group. It's gone through a lot of names, but it boils down to Becoming the Mask."

Argo now understood what he was getting at, it was disturbing to say the least… it was also something she had become in the real world. Back there, besides school, she would shut herself into her room and collect information. When she was a few years younger she thought it was just a little past time, then she began to understand that the people who did that were called Otaku, to Hikomori to Neets. As she grew older she became more and more like them till she became one of them. Those skills had come in handy, especially when it came to creating her own guild of like minded nerds, the Political leanings came later with the PLA camping in the very exploitable Empire an- Argo was losing herself like Adler was afraid he would she realized with a start.

Argo watched as Adler sat up straight and heard him speak." My name is Rufus Adam Adler. I am 28 years old and I'm an office worker. I am from Stark county New Hampshire and I was a re-enactor. I am a wargamer who is also a cat person and a nerd who knows dwarfish. My family cares about me and I care about my gaming buddies trapped in this world. I promise to Sigmar that I will never forget who I am and survive this game with as many other players as possible." He turned to Argo and smiled." If I keep on reminding myself that, I will stay who I am and not become a monster."

Argo then lifted her tankard." Here's to surviving then." Adler clinked his stein against her tankard and the pair drowned the last of their ale. Argo then shouted." More ale!"

/

_Averland-Averheim  
Evening of December 7__th_

President Draca, the self-appointed leader of the PLA, had seemingly shrunk into his chair at the head of the table. He, along with his inner circle of PLA members, were within the dining room of a mansion within the confines of Averheim. Tonight though it was serving as a meeting place instead of entertainment, there was already too much on their plate to heap on anything else.

It was hard to believe that yesterday the men in this room were pre celebrating the coming speech that their leader and his commanders would deliver on the 8th. They thought that with the announcement of the PLA allowing parolees into their ranks would make them so powerful that the rebels wouldn't stand a chance if they acted. But they struck so suddenly and devastatingly that now three cities, three whole cities with a combined total over 30,000 people had been lost to them. The PLA still had the largest organized army in the empire, over 3,000 players in Averheim alone. But they also had to contend with nearly a thousand rebels and thousands of angry beastmen, most of whom were behind well prepared defenses at the walls of these cities. The PLA could take one or two of them outright, but the cost would be horrendous in terms of players.

They had even dispatched a regiment of mounted 'knight-initiate' players, two hundred of them to Nuln to see about taking the city back. They met up with the remaining 500 Nuln PLA only an hour ago after riding all morning, it looked like the city would be back into the PLA grasp the next day… till the executions began. A single rebel under the banner of truce walked out to meet with the leaders of the PLA, they thought he was going to surrender the city, they were wrong.

He said that unless the PLA left and stayed at least twenty miles away then the rebels would start hanging their prisoners, 50 people per hour until they did so. The commanders called the bluff, then the rebel signaled to his comrades on the wall. 50 men, women and children fell from the wall with nooses around their neck, most of the time their necks snapped but a few were strangled from the rope. Seeing the rebels that serious and hardcore, the PLA commanders decided to leave Nuln, not wanting to see any more of their comrades get hanged.

The only person not in the room looking like he was next to the executioners block was the one man who was not a self-appointed representative of the people of the PLA. His name was Kibaou and he was angry. Up till now Kibaou had seemed like the mad man in the room, having been raving against Beta's and helping to organize the Night of the Long Horns. But he also opposed many of the council's and presidents plans. He had wanted to use the Averheim PLA to hunt down the rebels in the other cities, but it was put down that it would be too dangerous for the players involves. When his friend Diabel was sent to destroy the Rebels meeting in Middenheim, he had insisted that he be sent along also with his own regiment. But it was deemed that the forces Diabel had were sufficient, especially with their Skaven allies and no additional lives were to be wasted. Then he had fumed that the speech wasn't given on the 6th since it would of marked the one month anniversary of the players trapped in the world. But it was decided to hold off on it so that the commanders could practice their lines.

Now he was proven correct in his objections. Objections that he had shared with the people of Averheim, his base. His words and actions, along with Diabels, had driven the council to give him a seat of power amongst them. Kibaou's full title was 'General of the Aver Army', the other council members had given him title since they thought it would be meaningless because the war's to come would be far away from Averland. But now it was on their door step and in effect Kibaou's position was now the strongest out of all the other men in the room.

"You are a bunch of pussy's! What the hell are you doing here still, we should be out there getting our army ready not here! Get up damn you!" Kibaou stood slamming his fist onto the table as he urged the other council members to action.

President Draca just stared ahead blankly. Two of his oldest friends, since college, were out of contact with him. One of whom was dead in Altdorf while there was no word from Keith in Middenheim. His remaining friend had escaped Nuln and was making his way back to Averland with the remains of his forces.

This wasn't what he wanted to happen when he put on the Nerve Gear. He thought that he and his buddies could do great and awesome things while in this game world. When Kayaba made his announcement that the players were now trapped in the old world and he and his friends were dropped into their respective home cities Draca thought that they could do great things. He remembered their time as protesters over a decade ago, they were so close to changing the world but no one would listen to them. Now that a situation had presented it self where the collectors could give up their money then the players would be better equipped to destroy the temple of Sigmar. Sure they had to commit evil acts but eventually that wouldn't matter since they would be able to escape the game. Yes there was violence but that was because people refused to give up their property for the good of all the players. Even keeping the players in the cities were for their own good because the PLA were best prepared to take on the world. Why couldn't more players see that their best chance of survival was to listen to him and his people? The Night of the Long Horns was meant to give breathing room for the PLA to hunt the forests around the cities exclusively, if that meant killing a few thousand players who could attack them then all the better since the remaining few would be thankful to their eventual rescuers.

But now freedom seemed impossible because of madmen who just wanted to keep their money and dictate to the players how things were going to happen. It disgusted him to no end and Kibaou's ramblings were not helping any bit of his mood." Shut up cactus head." Draca finally said to stop the Jap from flapping his yap. He needless to say he detested Kibaou.

Kibaou stopped talking at last, but he didn't sit down." What did you just say?" Kibaou asked.

Draca snorted and answered him." I said shut up cactus head, the war is over. We're never getting out of this game and no amount of yelling will help you. So sit down and shut up" Draca decided that should put the firebrand into place. He would give a speech tomorrow declaring that for now on the PLA will work with the rebels to escape the game, with the rebels in charge. Who knew they may of let him live to antagonize them another day when it came time for them to choose leaders.

The effect the insult had on Kibaou was not what Draca thought it would have. Kibaou grew angrier instead of quieting down, his hands gripping the edge of the table hard enough that the 'immortal object' screen appeared." How dare you! I've been the one telling you what to do and you won't listen to anyone but your own damn self. You know what you mother fucker, I say that you can go to hell because I'm going to destroy the Temple of Sigmar."

Draca laughed at him, right in Kibaous face." You and what army?"

Kibaou opened his menu and typed out a quick message. He then spoke to the assembled council members, the leaders of the PLA." This army."

The mansion's diner door's burst open and a uniformed PLA colonel walked in, thirty other soldiers followed afterwards." By orders of the General of the Aver Kibaou, I place all of you under arrest for treason against the PLA."

As the room filled with soldiers Draca, who's depression dissipeared the moment the room began to fill." Colonel Kirk what is the meaning of this?" Two soldiers gripped his arms, stopping him from moving.

Kibaou chuckled." It's called a management change. I also call it revenge for sending my buddy to his death." He told the former president.

Before Draca could respond Kirk spoke." I would strongly suggest sir that if you want to live till morning that you shut up." Draca's mouth closed and he became slack in the men's arm.

"What do you want?" He asked his voice filled with defeat.

Kibaou smiled wickedly." Surrender all your gear, money and titles. That goes for the rest of you as well."

One by one each of the council members surrendered their money, their wargear, items and even titles to Kibaou. He became the head of the PLA guild in Averheim and president of the organization all in one swoop. When it was over Kibabou spoke to them." Now I hope you like the jails because that's where your going to be spending the rest of the night in one. Take them away." He ordered the soldiers who did his bidding dragging the council members away.

Kibaou then spoke to Kirk." Thank you for your support. Here's my end of the bargain." He then opened his menu and then promoted the colonel to 'Treasurer of the PLA'. The former colonel smirked, he now had access to thousands upon thousands of gold pieces at his disposal to spend anywhere he wanted." Thank you mister president. What about the other PLA folks, the Nulnates and Altdorfians?"

Kibaou told him his plan." I'll tell them what I'll tell the rest of Averheim tomorrow. They tried to negotiate with the rebels under the city but were betrayed by a beta tester in their group. Clan Freaka is willing to make it look like Argo's Skaven were responsible. After they are dealt with I'm going to have the orders go out that all PLA start level grinding with evil quests and stay in the eastern half of the Empire. If the other city guilds decide that they don't want to join us then I'll tell them to try their chances with the rebels and see how well that goes."

"So where do I set the council up for the ambush?" Kirked asked. Kibaou opened his menu and marked a location on a map.

"Be sure to have them there no later than 2 AM." Kibaou told him. Kirk nodded and went to join his soldiers leaving Kibaou alone in the mansion.

The red headed president then left his new mansion to wander the streets of Averheim, to find somewhere to get a good drink. Kibaou was on top of the world right now. He had the power of life and death, had control over an army thousands strong and ruled an entire city. All of this happening in one night. He felt a hardness growing in his pants as he skipped along the road. His mind turning from a drink to finding some warm company, he would have been happy with a digital whore… then he saw her.

She was sitting on the side of the street by a soup kitchen, getting her spot ready for the next day when it would open for the next day of feeding the people of Averheim. She was around 12 years old and a real cutie with her hair in twin tails. She wore a yellow starter shirt and a black knee length skirt. Kibaou walked up to her, not showing his lust outwardly of course that would scare her off and asked." Hey what's your name kiddo?"

She looked at him, looking him over for a moment appraising him, then it clicked that she was looking at Kibaou General of the Aver." Oh um, my name is Silica mister Kibaou."

He then smiled." Well little miss Silica if you want I have some food that you might want, over at the Presidents Mansion…."

/

_Middenheim-City of the White Wolf  
The Morning of December 8th_

When Adler awoke he found himself to be naked under the sheets of one of the Drowned Rat's beds. After waking up to a splitting headache and taking a moment to remember where he was, he sat on the side of the bed and ran his hands down his face figuring out what had happen the night before. He could remember drinking with Argo, singing some drunken songs with her….

He tried to think more and the memories came back. Then he and Argo were laughing and then she was leading him up stairs. He remembered that they were on the bed making out, then her furry hand reaching into his pants and him having turn off the harassment window….

"Oh shite." He said with a sigh and turned around to his bed, where a slim figure was underneath the blankets. He pulled the sheets down to reveal a naked, thankfully sleeping, Argo.

The memory's came back to him of last night's escapades, which he found actually to be pleasant and a bit disturbing. After all 30 may have been the new 20, but he would have a hard time convincing a judge that 16 was the new 18. Though he did enjoy it while it lasted… very much unlike the last time 11 years back when he was still a teenager.

Adler turned away from the young rat woman and then opened up his menu. He decided that now would be a good time to beat a retreat before she awoken and this got more awkward than it already was. He opened his menu, a pair of knee high leather riding boots materializing onto his feet, followed by a pair of brown woolen trousers.

Adler's finger hovered the next item when he felt a pair of slim furry arms wrap around him." And where do you think you're going without saying bye?" Argo asked, her head resting on his right shoulder.

Adler closed the window and spoke to her." I didn't want to wake up such a cute little rat. I hear they bite if you do suddenly."

Argo then gave a giggle and said playfully." Like this?" Then bit his right ear.

Adler didn't want to say it aloud but he wished it was just like that. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply before saying." I need to go eventually Argo, I'm sorry but it has to happen."

Argo didn't sound disappointed when he had said that, like she was expecting him to do so. Instead when she spoke she told Adler." I know that. But still, you don't need to leave right now do you? After all I want to learn about how you did that thing with my tail"

After hearing her speak, Adler smiled to himself." To your second question, you've clearly not seen as much furry porn as I have." He then twisted his body to wrap his right arm around the rat girl's waist." And to your first question, no I don't have a reason." He then kissed her and the two fell back onto the bed.

/

_A few hours later…._

Adler finally emerged from the tavern fully clothed, covering the many scratches he had received in the bed room… his MP bar nearly drained from the 'moves' he performed over the past few hours. He was dressed in his light brown trousers and leather knee high boots. But he also wore an orange peasant shirt under a green vest with silver buttons and a long brown duster over that. Crowning his head was a broad brimmed hat, which looked a little like Indiana's just died green. His brace of pistols were holstered at his waist along with his warhammer in it's ring-frog.

He looked back at the inn. After a few more hours of 'fun' Argo and Adler had finally parted company when he pulled himself away after the 11th round. They had said their good byes after making it straight that their fling was a one night stand. He had given enough money to Argo for her to cover the bed and the bath she was taking right now, reading up on her messages at the same time.

Adler then walked away to the north, to the West Gate. As he walked he thought about the one reason, the truly selfish reason, why he was leaving the Golden Wolves and Middenland behind. It was both the facts that there was someone better to do the job and that he feared as to what he would become if he stayed and one more.

From the moment he was dropped into Middenheim he could not do the one thing he had wanted to do when he had put on the Nerve Gear. In between surviving the attacks of other players and 'leading' thousands of people to freedom he had experienced it when he was level grinding in the forests of Middenland, if only for a few moments. With his responsibilities to Middenland gone he was now free to explore the world, the terrible, horrifying world, that he loved so much.

Adler could now travel beyond the forests borders and go places he had only read about. He could go on quests, slay monsters and get lots of loot without worrying about other people's lives. It was so refreshing not giving a hammy or Narm filled speech almost every other day.

He entered a stables by the West Gate and talked to the NPC merchant. Adler was shown their stock of horses and selected an Arabian three quarters mix. It was a well-built mare with a black coat of fur and powerful muscles underneath her skin. The asking price was 100 Gold Crowns, which he bartered down to 75. He then bought the horse and then after taking her into the street climbed into the saddle, happy with his purchase.

He could afford it after all, around 4,000 gold pieces was in his inventory. Basically a parting gift he had taken from the Golden Wolves as a bit of back pay for his leading them. The silver he had spread around Middenheim the day before was the money made from the sale of the PLA equipment. It was so easy to cover up the transfer of funds, especially in front of all those thousands of people and his former brothers in arms.

Adler trotted his horse up to the unguarded Westgate. Nobody was around save for a few players that were planning on leaving the city and discussing their plans. The rest of the city and the former Golden Wolves were most likely in the park. Jack would be in full swing getting the Imperial Army setting up and organizing the hunting groups so the players could start leveling up. He rode past the players with a tip of his hat and onto the highway leading down into the Dark Wald.

After reaching the forested road below he was stopped not by a player, but by a massive wolf. The gigantic creature, the size of the wolf he rode a few days before, was sitting in the middle of the road almost as if it was awaiting Adler. Adler came to a stop a few yards short of the wolf. The monster glared at Adler, almost as if it dared him to fight or to run away. Adler though stood his ground and his eyes met the wolves, it was odd how quickly he had lost his aversion to looking at people in the eyes so quickly.

Adler broke the silence by speaking to the giant white wolf." Doe's Ulric really want one of his wolves to become a chained dog?" The monster continued to stare for a moment longer, then it got onto all fours and walked away into the forest. Adler then put the horse into a trot, past the site of encounter.

Now Adler could start a new life. He was thinking of Hochland since the description reminded himself of home… and then there was the matter of his future profession… most likely a Witch Hunter… yes defiantly a Witch Hunter.

/

**A/N: So grey and black enough for folks? Well things are going to get worse for our 'heroes'. Alright time for the Omake… oh wait, scratch that I'm going to hold it hostage! When I get to a secret number of reviews I will post it or after a certain date I will post it as well, but if you want to have side splitting laughter ASAP I would suggest you go with the former rather than the latter. But seriously folks review! Even if it's a kind word (or not so kind word) I appreciate it, especially after working on this chapter. So I'll be eagerly awaiting your reviews folks.**


	8. Warhammer Appropriately Odd: 1

**A/N: See first chapter for disclaimer, In addition this is for parody and not for trying to defame any one or other IPs, this chapter is dedicated to Humor, nor am I making a point about peoples sexual preferences, certain books about the time between daylight and night time, certain youtube personality's and tumblr artists that I like (both of whom I hope if stumble across this fic will understand it's just a parody), The Welsh, Disney, Chris Hansen, pedophilia, bestiality, or any kind of controversial topic. We clear? Good.**

**Well folks I decided to lighten this story up with an Omake chapter that with the most recent review you have unlocked early. This isn't officially part of the main story line that I'm developing in WAO, but some things might eventually become canon, though everything is still in the air including the races of the characters involved and parings. Then again this is written mostly for insanity, fun or just plain old crack. So enjoy this side chapter… I honestly don't know if there is going to be any more.**

**Also to the first five reviewers of chapter 7 I redid the ending, I forgot to add something important I was planning on doing but due to exhaustion forgot to.**

**Anyway time to answer your kind reviews.**

**Destark: That will be covered in the upcoming Interlude**

**Daemonwelsh: Thank you. I've got a long way to go till I master the depth, and probably never will but I will try my best.**

**Guest: Not to sound condescending, in fact I'm grateful for you to point out my mistakes and helping me become a better writer because of it, but mind choosing a 'sign as' misnomer. If I get multiple 'guests' it will be hard for me to give credit where it is due if they sign all the same. I've corrected most of the mistakes in chapter 7, though I completely missed one or two. I also want to tell you that the word program that I use, when I put my quotations, hates it when I put the quotation and word together (red line of death) and alters it, I'm trying to keep the story consistent and so you must let that mistake pass please. **

**Murphyslaw89 and Guest: You'll be pleasantly entertained as to what I have planned for when the story switches back to the Empire. **

**WarlordOmega: Thanks for the review. I plan on showing off the Greenskin's once we get to Roshi's arc, then the Lizardmen later on in the story. **

/

_The Smith and the Vampire_

Lisbeth was a dwarfen rune smith formerly of Karak Kadrin. She looked remarkably like she had in her real life, though slightly curvier after the transition to 'half dwarf', she had altered her image slightly as well, dying her hair a light pink instead of its natural brown. When she wasn't out doing some hunting of low level mobs, she was traveling through the towns of the Empire looking for a place to settle down and start a shop, she was leaning towards a new town that was being built by players in between Altdorf and Nuln, but till she traveled there she wouldn't be sure where to set up.

During the first few weeks in the game Lisbeth had not been out clearing with other players but had been grinding her Rune Smiting skill and eventually maxing it out. Because magical weapons having latent skills and buffs in them her services were in great demand and so she provided an excellent product. Of course her services were not cheap though and this earned her a lot of money. One such order she was to fulfill today for a mysterious client in Sylvania.

She had never met the man but had talked to his represented, a cloaked player with a specific set of instructions for a sword and armor. Lisbeth was suspicious of the order and demanded a ridiculously high payment for the order. That suspicion turned to surprised when the cloaked player paid in full and an extra 100 gold for personal delivery to his master's home in Sylvania. After a week of smiting the high level items and anther three days of travel by coach she arrived at her destination, Castle Azuchi.

As she stepped out of the carriage, dressed in a simple red and white dress, she was struck by how the castle blended the Imperial designs with that of a Japanese castle. The castle walls were pure Empire in design, built high and of stone with cannons lining the walk ways. The keep on the inside though was as if it was started by a 13th century European Engineer but half way through was finished by a Japanese Samurai from the 16th century.

The strange keep was for the first two levels European in design, with stone work and a gothic gate. At each corner of the base a round tower would shoot up into the sky with a conical roof and arrow loops all around. But at the center of the keep itself was a seven story wooden structure narrowing to the top, with arches and overhangs that reminded her so much of the castles of her homeland. At the very top was a two story hexagonal tower, shrouded in the mists that perpetually surrounded the country side in an eternal gloom. Needless to say the entire place looked spooky.

Meeting her at the gate was the cloaked man she had done business with and secured the order. He was holding a lantern as he spoke to her." Miss Lisbeth, my master will see you now." She gulped and nodded." Of course, lead the way sir." The man turned and opened a small door, build into the larger gate, that lead into the castle. He walked in and she followed him into the castle.

The door closed behind her creaking loudly. Besides the light provided by lantern, which illuminated only a few feet around the pair the castle was in pitch darkness." Watch your step." Her guide spoke as he lead her into the castle and up the stairs. What she could see with the low light provided were pieces of art work lining the walls, showing nobles and battle scenes." Ah, your master has a wonderful castle. Did he pay for it all by himself?" She asked her guide.

"Not all of it, this is a guilds headquarters. The Master though did lead the way on redesigning the castle. You see this place was a ruin, but two months ago our guild bought this place and has been rebuilding it." As he spoke they walked past silent armored sentry's, their helmets looking straight ahead and gauntleted hands resting over a sword and kite shield." Um so why are there no lights?" Lisbeth asked.

"My master does not wish to use candles or lamp oil needlessly, especially after spending so much money recently. When the guild is here though they will usually use the lights that are provided." To Lisbeth this master seemed extremely eccentric… but also likely that he was a very high level player flushed with cash. The latter was why she was still here in this castle instead of running back to Altdorf, away from this spooky castle.

The pair continued to climb up higher, walking on creaking wooden boards now and passing through more and more Japanese architecture, till it felt almost like a grim version of her land. Then they reached a stairway and the guide stopped." My master is awaiting you at the top of the stairs." She looked at the guide." Your not coming with me?" He shook his head." No, my master would like to meet you without any other… distractions." Her creeped out radar which was bordering on red suddenly shot off the charts as she head the guide speak. Again she gulped and spoke." O-okay."

Lisbeth then started to walk up the stairs, each step creaking under her weight as she walked into the tower. Once Lisbeth was past the bannister, she was struck that the room was indeed lit, but not by any artificial light. Moon light poured in from a balcony window. She looked towards the window and saw a seated figure illuminated by moon light. The figure was dressed in fine Imperial garb, which was predominantly red with some black mixed in, he was also seated in a high backed chair. In his left hand he swished around the contents of a wine glass. She could see his face and he looked Japanese like her, his hair though was bright red and just barely under control by a bandanna.

He fixed her with an unearthly stare and said one word in a masterly voice." Come." Lisbeth's insides were churning as she shuffled to him, she felt a mix of fear and… and… anticipation, like she was now at the mercy of some predator." H-hello sir, I-I'm Lisbeth. T-the smith you contracted." The figure didn't speak instead he watched her approached, appraising her as if she was a choice cut of meat. Lisbeth's face flushed with red as she neared him." Um ah… I have the items you requested sir…." She opened up the transfer window and a heat beat later asked." Um… what's y-your name sir?"

The man then opened his window and took the items, when he was finished he spoke." I am Klein, the Vampire Daimyo." Then he reached out and cupped her chin with his right hand." And I have a proposition for you." Lisbeth felt herself melt at the touch of his hand. With his eyes staring directly into her soul, his mastery voice and his refined domineer he could ask her anything and she would go along with it." I-I-I am at your servi-"

Before she could finish she could hear two roaring laughs followed by a pair of fermium giggles. "Klein-" There was a deep breath." That was to good!" Lizbeth then turned to the laughter and saw that a human male witch hunter and female dwarf warrioress, that she recognized as Roshi from previous dealings with her guild. Between the pair was a bucket of popcorn that they were chewing on a little while ago. The dwarf giggled and patted the back of the witch Hunter." She was ready to drop her nickers." Then there was more laughter, this time from two additional figures one dressed in black and the other in white behind the witch hunter laughed louder. They were both elves, the girl she didn't recognize but Lisbeth could tell she was a high elf swordswoman. The other one she knew

The young dark elf corsair chuckled nervously." Sorry but when I heard that you were making Klein-Chans armor we couldn't… well things snowballed out of control when Adler-Sama suggested to play a bit of a prank." Then the auburn haired high-elf spoke with a smile." Klein-Chan why not show off that armor for Lizbeth-san… after all I think she would want to see that now after you dashed her hopes of seeing you naked."

Klein laughed at the request as Lisbeth's face flushed to a shade similar to red hot metal." Sure thing Asuna." Klein said, then he opened up his inventory and equipped himself in a full suit of samurai armor, all in red, and a master crafted rune encrusted katana.

Lisbeth looked at Klein, then at the others, then settled on a glare at Kirito." You are assholes!"

/

_Songs of the Southlands_

"What about Battle Hyme of the Empire?" Hans asked aloud. He was a sectary of the representative of Middenheim. Like most of the others in this chamber they were the underlings to the ambassadors from the liberated cities of the Empire and they were in a tavern on the road leading from Nuln to Altdorf. While their bosses hammered out the 'important' deals the underlings were left to figure out some of the lesser problems that faced the Empire.

As it had turned out todays issue was moral for fledging Imperial Army, most specifically the marching songs. What they were doing today was deciding which real world songs would make the easiest transfer to songs that could be sung on mass. As it turned out it was proving a damn slight more difficult than when they first started out.

"Na." Gerald of Altdorf spoke in his mid-western accent." Try rhyming the words to relating to anything in the Empire and it gets depressing real quick… not to mention were also going up against The Peoples Republic's Army. They probably thought up 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' as well but kept the lyrics the same."

Then Andrea, the only girl from the group and underling from Nuln, spoke with her long island accent slipping in." What about 'When Johannes comes Marching Home?" Hans and then after a moment Gerald nodded." That one makes much more sense." Hans spoke, then a moment later he added." Why not 'Men of Harlach'… change it Men of Altdorf."

Gerald nodded at the suggestion." I like that as well." He then leaned back and sighed."The dwarfs have it so much easier." Gerald spoke, to which Andrea asked." How's that?"

"Well for one thing they already have like two or three good marching songs." Gerald began." They have 'Under the Hills and Far Away' and then they made that stupid 'Hi ho, it's off to war we go' song…. I gotta admit though that does have a catchy tune."

Hans then chuckled." Who would of thought that Disney would make so many good war song bases." The others laughed.

" Yeah now that I think of it I wouldn't be surprised if the Skaven start using the 'Mickey Mouse Club' song as their national anthem." Andrea said, which got more chuckles." Next thing you know someone is going to be making a Little Mermaid song into blood and guts!" Hans spoke and the underlings laughed heartily….

_**The Realm of Chaos**_

Gerry watched as his warriors, scores of marauder horsemen mixed in with knights of chaos made their way to the next battlefield. His force was heavily armored and all wore the sigil of khorne the wargod. They were the elites of hundreds of battles in the north, having slain thousands of bots. It would have been an impressive sight… if it weren't for the musical accomplishment that came along with the marching." Slaughter Your World." Made him cringe slightly less than the Slaanesh version of 'Part of your World.' He was thankful to god that he didn't have to listen to 'Where the S and M Is'.

How the Nurgle cultists came up with 'You got a Phlegm in me' he really didn't want to know.

/

_Shipping Services Provided By…._

Adler and Jack had been traveling the wilds of Middenheim for three days on foot through the snows of late fall. Adler was shirtless, his chest a chiseled and scared six pack, he wore only a pair of tight leather pants and his wolf cloak covering his back. He showed no outward sign of the cold unlike his dear friend Jack who was shivering. Jack was wearing the fine clothes of a gentleman, white and blue silk that was very light but was of no protection against the cold, his coat and under shirt was missing a few buttons which allowed his coat to be partially open and didn't offer any more protection against the cold than Adlers bear chest.

"How much further to the Den?" Jack asked, his long back length hair blowing behind him before he sneezed. Adler grunted as he opened his menu and looked at the map." No more than a day and a half march."

Jack groaned." Can't we find someplace to rest then? At least till this wind blows over?"

Adler looked back at his friend, his face a rough kind of handsome with its light burnsides. He studied Jack's delicate feminium features before saying." Fine." He then pointed to a rocky out cropping jutting up from the snow." One of our clearing found a safe cave in there, no mobs. We'll use that as shelter tonight." He trudged through the snow, leading the way for the shorter Golden Wolf.

They soon arrived in the cave and set about building a fire with what few sticks and wood they could find. They then settled in, Adler sitting by the fire, his right leg pulled up to his chest and left leg crossed before him, while his warhammer leaned against his right leg. Jack was laid out on a bed roll, having shed his silk coat and now wore an open shirt, he warmed a hand by the fire and twirled a strand of his long hair in his fingers.

Adler looked at his friend.' He's so much like a girl.' He thought to himself as he took in Jacks lithe frame. He certainly did look… hot, yes hot. The younger golden wolf had a body that was quite desirable, especially for the barbarian warlord of the resistance. He licked his lips as he imagined his body in his hands, he licked his lips.

Jack saw the action and looked alarmed." Uh are you okay Adler?" He was stared down by those lustful blue eyes, those dominate baby blues.

Adler had a choice either he could back down and the moment would pass and they could continue to be friends… or he could something more in tune with his personality of never backing down. He then leapth over the fire pinning Jack to the ground with his burly paws. A harassment window appeared before Jack as he let out a grunt." Adler what are you-?"

The barbarian pressed a finger to Jacks lips as he leaned back and said." Turn off that window now." Jack looked up at Adler, he was so big, his body being the perfect example of manliness. He had to admit a certain crush on the Warlord and he was internally thrilled to have him on top of him… looking down at him with such an expression of lust. He turned off the window wanting to be taken by his lord. Adler smirked and then bent down to-

"Sweet Sigmar in Heaven what are you women reading!" Adler exclaimed from behind the trio of girls. Lisbeth, Roshi and Argo tensed up and dropped the manga they were reading. They turned to Adler as one.

" H-how long were you watching us?" Asked Lisbeth. She and the other girls all happened to be in Burgledorf on the same day, they had met up and decided on a girls night out and came across a book sellers stall. As it turned out the book seller was part of a group artists and writers called 'The Creators Corner', that had decided to turn to entertaining the masses of nerds and geeks that had been trapped in WAO. They did this through comic books, manga, novels and porn. The latter caught the girl's eyes because of who was on the cover of this particular yaoi publication.

"Long enough to see someone has decided to make a story concerning me without my permission." Adler looked down at the book cover and felt disgusted. The artists had done a really horrible job on rendering him and Jack into such a form. They hardly looked like their yaoi equivalents in the gaming world. The cover itself was black and white, showing Adler and Jack covered in a wolf cloaks but otherwise naked looking out at a viewer. Adler himself was never that trim or handsome while Jack had a lot more masculine qualities and much shorter hair in person. The title said 'Wolves of Love.' The embrace alone that they were in boiled his blood… he was not some character that Fan Fiction Writers would have their way with! He would then feel the phantom punch of some unknown but god like force on the back of his head.

He shrugged and picked up the book, his eyes saw a page which made him retch and drop the book." T-that's not even anatomically possible even with gaming physics!" Argo had to laugh at her one time lover's antics, the other girls soon giggled as well.

"Sorry Adler… its just that when we saw it… well it was like one of your Yank comedians said. 'It's like a train wreck, you don't want to look but you can't help yourself'." Roshi added.

'Not to mention after that prank you pulled on me back in Sylvania it feels good to get some pay back.' Lisbeth said silently to herself, but couldn't help a smile from creeping across her lips.

Adler looked at the girls, he wasn't angry at them, but he was angry at the publication they had been reading." Very well… ladies please step back for the moment… humor me." The girls then took a few steps away from the angry witch hunter.

Adler then drew his revolver flint lock and proceeded to unload all the shots into the book, destroying the publication. The girls stared in stunned silence as they watched him holster the pistol… just to draw a torch." What do you plan on doing with that?" Asked Roshi.

"Oh this… I'm just going to have a nice polite chat with the publishers about future books… and if they decide not to have the oh so polite chat then I'm added some heretics to the witch burning tomorrow!" Adler spoke with a mad gleam in his eye.

/

_Bedmate Reveal _

**(A little something I came up with while writing the last part of Chapter 7. Please don't be angry at the attempts at humorous crack. Enjoy….)**

"Oh shite." Adler said with a sigh and turned around to his bed, where a slim figure was underneath the blankets. He pulled the sheets down to reveal a naked Asuna. Suddenly the door busted open and a dark elf corsair by the name of Kirito appeared." Time to clip the eagles balls!" Adler looked off screen and said one terrified word." Mommy."

/

"Oh shite." Adler said with a sigh and turned around to his bed, where a pair of figures were underneath the blankets. He pulled the sheets down to reveal a naked Lisbeth and Desiree. A moment later the door busted open revealing a pissed off Klein and Kurt, both armed with swords and with magical power gathering in their right hand palms." I'll fry him you zombiefie him, we clear?" Asked Kurt, to which Klein nodded." Then I'll kill him again and again." Adler looked off screen and said." I don't want to live in this world anymore."

/

"Oh shite." Adler said with a sigh and turned around to his bed, where a slim figure was underneath the blankets. He pulled the sheets down to reveal a naked Fionna. Suddenly the door busted open revealing a pissed off Ice King, his hands covered in icy magic." You got to her first hairy face!" He then blasted Adler's nuts with ice and then they fell off. Adler looked off screen and said." This is goining to hurt once I get feeling again between my legs. But now I know how cold it has to be before your balls fall off." Then a rainbow appeared over head with the words 'the more you know' underneath.

/

"Oh shite." Adler said with a sigh and turned around to his bed, where a slim figure was underneath the blankets. He pulled the sheets down to reveal Silica. Before he could turn to the side to say a witty comment the door busted open with Chris Hansen walking in with several FBI officers behind him." Hello mister Adler I was hoping you could answer a few questions…." Before he could speak, Adler was tackled by an FBI officer dressed as a bush within the room.

/

"Oh shite." Adler said with a sigh and turned around to his bed, where a trio of slim figures were underneath the blankets. He pulled the sheets down to reveal a naked Holly Short, Rain Vinyaya and Lilly Frond all of whom were sleeping. He looked off screen and said." I have the feeling that an Irish teenager is going to have my lucky charms for breakfast."

/

"Oh shite." Adler said with a sigh and turned around to his bed, where a several figures were underneath the blankets. He pulled the sheets down to reveal a naked Kirito, Jack, Reck, Kibaou, Agil and Eugene. He looked to the side off screen and said." Oh hell naw!"

/

"Oh shite." Adler said with a sigh and turned around to his bed, where a figure was underneath the blankets. He pulled the sheets down to reveal Princess Molestia. She looked up at him and said with a smirk." That was fun last night, especially when you slapped my big glourious flank while holding my mane… but I think it's its time for the Big Sexy to do what I want to you." Adler turned to look off screen." I'm oddly nervicited and turned on… yet the mindlessgonzo voice over isn't helping." Then Molestia was the first other pony besides Adler to break the 4th wall in this Omake. She spoke to the audience." You know you he loves it. Now lick my flank you dirty wolf."

/

"Oh shite." Adler said with a sigh and turned around to his bed, where a pair of slim figures were underneath the blankets. He pulled the sheets down to reveal a naked Renamon and Krystal, both of whom were sleeping. He looked at them and ran his hands over their fur covered bodies and curvy forms. He then looked off screen and lifted his eyebrows suggestively." Now this I like."

/

"Oh shite." Adler said with a sigh and turned around to his bed, where a round figure was underneath the blankets. He pulled the sheets down to reveal a sheep." Baaah!" Adler leaned in and whispered into the sheep's ear." Your cute and all but it won't work out since I'm a Baaad Boy and not Welsh… or from Vermont"

**(I'm sorry but that last one was just too easy a target for me not to take a shot at.)**


	9. Interlude 1: Spear Ears

**A/N: See first chapter for disclaimer. Here is the first, short, canon interlude folks. This time it features our favorite Spear Ears. I will admit the reason why I delayed this chapter is because of the new Dark Elf army book coming out and I would like to be up to date on the wargame fluff and rules. So here you are ladies and gentlemen Kirito and Asuna.**

**Also a special shout out to Older Than Time who has launched his fan fic Destiny Online, the second Warhammer/SAO crossover on the site. This deserves special mention because not only is it a good story but it is partially inspired by yours truly. Recursive Fan Fiction at it's best baby! **

/

_Half a mile off the Coast of Nagarythe  
Mid-Morning of December 17th, 2022_

The small Dark Elf galley rose and fell amongst the rough seas of the mid-December morning. The galley was 30 yards long and 5 wide, it's hull a midnight black with a metal ram below a carved hydra's figure head. Though it's dragon like sails were billowing from a northern wind, below the decks NPC slaves rowed the vessel to the shore, the ship cursing at a very high speed. Upon the top deck there was a reaper bolt thrower and NPC Dark Shard crossbowmen walking along the wooden planks.

The ship was not a rouge Dark Elf raider though, the vessel was owned by a small crew of three Dark Elves. They included a ranged build Dark Elf, he was an Indian in his early twenties with the name of Sanjay. His hair was black and curly underneath his helmet, which framed his angular high cheek bone face fairly well. He was armed with a repeater crossbow and sword, which had a minor rune of strength. His armor consisted of black metal chain mail over a purple robe. Around his body was a bear pelt that helped to keep him warm in the chilly weather.

Then there was Silith, he was a white American with short cropped blond hair, his eyes a light green. He was broad shoulder with powerful limbs, his build made him look squatter then his actual size was, but still he was proving to be popular with the ladies back in Hag Graef. He was wearing a heavy open felt robe over a black tank top and pants. At his hips were a pair of red jewel encrusted daggers. Despite his gender and appearance, which would have had many mistaken him for an Assassin build, he was in actuality a Witch Elf Sorceress. Due to his real gender being a male, but having decided to play as a female Witch Elf, the hand mirror that Kayaba had given out really screwed around with the game system and until he was able to afford proper clothes his manhood.

The last member of the small party was a young teenager, yet he was the captain of the small ship. He stood at the bow of the ship, his left leg on the ships railing and looking out to the land of the High Elves. He was dressed in the light armor of a Dark Elf Corsair, upon his back a black sea dragon cape that billowed with the northern wind. Upon his back a pair of wickedly curved blades rested below his cloak. He was helmetless, exposing his young face to the wind. He was Japanese; his long pointed ears jutting out of his black hair, his eyes were dark brown in color. This was Kirito, captain of the _Midnight Shark_.

The trio were an odd bunch of players, driven together by the circumstance of dungeon delving, but now felt the need to explore beyond their chilled shores.

/

It was a month ago that they met at a tomb of a long forgotten Dark Elf noble in the Iron Mountains. They had entered the tomb at different entrances, Sanjay with a large guild, Silith with a small coven of Witch Elves and Kirito all by himself. When they met in the middle at the nobles they were reduced to only three players. Sanjay was the last of his guild, the rest dying at the hands of tyrogytes and monsters, the same for Silith who lost his party along the way. Kirito, having been a beta tester, was able to find a secret entrance to the tomb and only fighting a splattering of tyrogytes.

The trio then met at the sarcophagus of the noble, the three doors from the tunnels opening to the sanctuary of the tomb to reveal each other. Of course when they saw each of the other dark elves they had raised their weapons to defend themselves. It was quite a shock after all to suddenly find yourself looking at two other gore drenched players while looking for loot. The trio shuffled into the sanctuary their weapons still drawn, untrusting of the other's. Back stabbing among players was common, but amongst the Dark Elves it was supposed to be part of the fluff and there was no telling how much of a RP'er the other person was till it was usually too late.

As they approached the sarcophagus, the doors behind them slammed shut leaving them trapped inside. When the doors were closed the players all jumped a little, including Kirito who had explored this dungeon when it was in beta. 'That didn't happen in the Beta,' Kirito realized with a start.

Then the sarcophagus itself was beginning to be surrounded by a dark mist, which spiraled from the base of the tomb upwards. The players followed the path of the darkness with their eyes and Sanjay's crossbow. The mist exploded above the sarcophagus and showered down, taking the form of a ghostly figure. It was a black, but still translucent, Dark Elf in the armored vestments of a noble, armed with spear and shield.

The wraith stood upon it's sarcophagus and bent it's legs, the bosses shield braced in front of it and spear held underhanded. The title of the boss appeared above his head.' Dethna Felbane.' Followed by a trio of health bars under it's title.

Before anyone could get in a hit the boss pulled back it's ethereal spear and stabbed at Silith. He was quick, like all other Elves, and dived below the stab. He then brought his dagger's up to slash the ghostly spear away. His blades passed the spear and the wraith pulled it's weapon back for another attack. Sanjay saw an opening and unloaded two bolts Dethna's head, the projectiles passing through and hitting the stone wall next to Silith.

Kirito saw this go on, even as he dodged a spear thrust. Like the last time he was here the entity was unable to be harmed by mundane attacks, but there was a way to defeat him… the problem being was did he want to trust these other players in helping to defeat the boss? The answer came to Kirito quickly in that he rationalized that he would rather deal with the players when they had a chance to sort out what had happen, instead of dying from the boss.

Kirito pointed one of his swords at Sanjay." Pull the torch" He then shifted the his point of the sword away from the player to a torch next to him. Sanjay listen to him, deciding 'what the hell, were dead anyway' and pulled the unlit torch down.

Above the sarcophagus, at the top of the tomb, stone work began to rumble and high above the players the celing began to move. Sunlight poured into the chamber illuminating Dentha." Attack him! He is vulnerable in the sun light!" Kirito shouted, getting the attention of the boss by hitting his spear with his blade.

The other two needed no more convincing. Silith ran behind the boss and slashed with his twin daggers behind him. Before as Dethna turned to face Silith, he was shot multiple times by Sanjay in the back. The boss was distracted again and again, his health being whittled down by the constant attacks from the living Dark Elves. When Kirito unleashed his last attack the boss's spirit fell backwards, it unleashed a powerful scream exploding in a shower of black mist as it hit is sarcophagus.

That left the three players, who were forced together to survive, alone in the tomb with a casket full of loot. It could of turned violent, each of the players killing the others off… but it didn't. Instead Kirito stepped up and said." I've got the last attack bonus. You two can have whatever is in the sarcophagus." Kirito meant that as a way for the pair to turn their attention to each other if they were going to fight over the loot. Silith and Sanjay looked at each other.

Sanjay spoke first." I think I can give up a little silver for a fellow fighter." He then lowered his crossbow.

"Like wise." Silith said, getting out of a fighting stance.

Kirito then asked." So you two aren't going to fight?" His blades lowered.

Silith nodded." No, I don't want to kill people unless I really have to."

To which Sanjay added." In fact with my guild dead, I'm going to need a new party if I'm going to be on the front lines at all. Are you two interested in joining me? We seem to work well together."

The silence was so deafening that a pin drop would have been the same as a pistol shot. Then after a minute Silith was the first to speak." Sure I'll join up."

Kirito took a moment more of thought… this was a game where you survived by working in and creating your own army. If it was just a regular MMO then he would say no flat out… but he couldn't, not in this game." I will as well."

And thus their party was formed.

/

Now a month later they had shed blood together, both the mobs and their own. They had found that they worked well together and had pooled enough cash to pay for a small galley which would take them beyond the barren land of the Dark Elves for more loot… and not to be so close to a polar climate in the middle of winter. Kirito opened his menu and looked at his mape, he then made a slight adjustment to the ships course which an NPC helms man made.

He closed his menu and walked away from the bow of the ship. He then said to Silith and Sanjay." We'll be in the ruins of Anlec in twenty minutes. Get your coven and Darkshards ready." They then set to work on getting the landing party ready, the first invasion of Ulthuan by players was about to start.

/

_Half a mile from the Coast of Nagarythe  
Mid-Morning of December 17th, 2022_

The group of four High Elves, along with their small force of AI controlled troops, made their way to the cost over the rocky, tree covered land of Nagarythe. Three of three number were from Saphery and swordsmen build while their forth member was of Chrace and a White Lion Build. The White Lion was a man who's gamer tag was Godfrey and armed with the characteristic great ax and white lion skin which draped around his shoulders. Two of the Saphery elves were of the same Sword Master build, though only at an 'initiate' level, they were armed with greatswords and had the same scaled mail skirts and armor but that was where the similarities ended.

Peter was the tallest of the four, towering above his comrades who were themselves a head taller than their human versions, he was broad shouldered and possessed a wrestlers physique with black hair done in a pony tail. Kurt on the other hand was the second shortest in the group, he was also the most with real world weight on him weighing in at around 250 LP, which didn't matter since they were in a game world where the stats was all that matter and he had proven himself to be an extremely good player. Like Godfrey he was red headed, though his personality was more dour since his wife had been in the game… just as a dwarf in the old world across the ocean.

The last member of the group and their surprising leader was an auburn headed teenaged girl called Asuna. She, like her male companions from Saphery, was a head than she actually was in real life and was of similar armored build to them. Unlike the others who favored greatweapons she was instead armed with a rapier. Though it did not grant the strength bonuses that the weapons the boys carried it allowed her to strike at such a higher speed and with pin point accuracy. She had proven her ability on the battlefield by going after field bosses, which were admittedly, weaken by her comrades, and be able to deliver a critical strike to a vulnerable area which usually killed them.

The reason why she was here was to get into contact with the Shadow Land tribes players in the area. Her superiors in Saphery had sent her and her two guards to the north of Ulthuan to get into contact with the guilds of the other High Elves players across Ulthuan to start building a united nation. There were two other expeditions, one to the south and that was crossing the inner sea. They planned on meeting in Caledor and then journey back to the East.

Along the way her group picked up Godfrey who volunteered to go with the Sapherians when they reached Chrace. They were earning a lot of XP and skills along the way and they were all in the mid to high teens in levels because of the grinding.

Asuna stopped for a moment and consulted her map." Hmm… there's a ruined city about a Kilometer North. It's called… Anlec? We can rest there and hopefully find some shadow warriors that have taken refuge in it's ruins."

Her boy's nodded, Kurt saying." Work's for me Asuna." They followed her lead to the ruined city.

/

_Anlec-Ruined City of the Dark Elves  
Noon of December 17th, 2022_

As the galley pulled up to the jetty NPC crew men leapt off the small sea going vessel and with ropes that tied the ship to the dock. With the ship secured a gangplank was lowered and the first Dark Elves off the boat were Kirito's Corsairs like all elves units they were a small bunch of only 15 warriors which corresponded to his level. When he reached level twenty then the unit recruitment would double and he would be able to hire a second unit of Dark Elves. Next followed Sanjay along with his 14 Darkshards and then Silith with his 15 Witchelf Coven.

Kirito looked out at the city of Anlec and appraised it. The city of Anlec, as it stood now, was the ruins of the Dark Elves attempt to rebuild their capitol on Ulthuan, the original city having been destroyed by the cataclysmic civil war that divided the elves thousands of years ago. Instead this city was built up from two black arks and expanded by slave labor over hundreds of years… but then forced to be abandon when the dark elves were kicked out by the high elves.

The city was much like a dark elf city, with it's towers, black stone work and seemingly spikes of villainy where ever it was deemed appropriate. But while it did have the athstetics of a dark elf city, what separated it from the other dreary city's was that this place was dead. It was in ruins, it's black stone work cracking, it's towers collapsed inward and overgrowth was destroying the rest of the city where war did not. It was also in these ruins that Kirito and his party hoped to find some long forgotten loot and to rest before continuing onto the Old World.

Kirito then pointed to a tower along the docks, the tower was partially collapsed with its roof caved in." Lets start there. We can get a good view of the city from up top." He then walked with his corsairs to the tower, his party member's following suit. Little knowing that they were already being watched.

/

_Anlec-Ruined City of the Dark Elves  
Noon of December 17th, 2022_

Asuna and her party enter the city through an over grown gate. Upon entering she felt that there was something… wrong about the city. It wasn't just the fact that it was in ruins, it was the eerie silence. She was born and raised in the city where back ground noise was the norm, even the high elf cities had that though being a fraction of the size than Tokyo. This city though was dead, there was no ambient noise, no animals or the sound of footsteps save for the boots of her party. It was a creepy feeling that she couldn't shake.

The small force she had at her command should of given her security, but they hardly did. It was a well-balanced force to, Asuna and Peter each had 16 spearmen under their command, Gofrey had another 14 bowmen and due to money restraints Kurt had 7 Silverhelms. Each of the units was commanded by an NPC champion which was unlocked at level 10 and could make some tactical choices if not given commands by its player. The champions also allowed their commanders an extra pair of eyes, such as able to announce an 'look out sir!' or be able to map out the location of other players, units or mobs. They were nowhere near as good as an actual player and in fact like all AI they could do some very stupid things.

But none of them, not the players or the bots saw what came next. Revealing himself from a darken alleyway from, hidden position, a shadow warrior player stepped forward, to the side of the players. " Hello there travelers." He spoke, causing the players to jump at his presence. Their swords and Godfrey's great axe were in their hands in a flourish of steel.

The player, a stealth build shadow warrior, smiled and raised his hand up in peace." Whoa, I'm just here to talk to you. My name is Kilkin and I'm the leader of the Midnight Bows guild." Kilkin said to the four of them. He was in his mid-twenties and fit the bill of a stereotypical elf ranger. He was tall with slim limbs and a thin face with high cheek bones, he had a pair of almond shaped blue eyes and long straight black hair. He wore a black cloak over dark leather armor, he was armed with a bow and several daggers at his waist.

They kept their weapons raised as Asuna spoke." My name is Asuna, I'm a messenger from the city of Saphery and I've been sent here to get into contact with the Shadow Land guilds. Why didn't you show yourself earlier?" Her eyes darting back and forth looking for more players.

Kilkin answered her question, lowering his hand." I had to be sure that you were not Dark Elves… my guild has been under attack by them for the past day." He then snapped his fingers and half a dozen more players revealed themselves, dressed similarly to the guild master, though they all had the lower half of their face covered and with orange markers above their heads.

Asuna's sword point didn't waver." Why are the Dark Elves attacking you?" She asked Kilkin.

He shrugged." We havn't been able to capture one yet. But they came in the dead of night two days ago with three ships. I sent some of my guild mates to talk to them… but they were killed. We've been fighting them for the past few days and were able to kill most of them and sink two of their ships. We have suffered though, there were originally 30 members of my guild when the Dark Elves came, now we are down to only 8 with only a few units of bowmen left. The Dark Elves have the run of the docks and we think they're going to push into the city and hunt us down before claiming it as their own."

Asuna lowered her rapier as she Kilkin's face didn't show much remorse… either he was harden to the loss or he didn't care." Do you have enough men to face them and drive them out without losing more people?"

Kilkin shook his head." No. But actually as fellow High Elves we were hoping that you could help us? After all if the Dark Elves gain a foot hold in Ulthuan they would be one step closer to destroying the Grand Temple of Sigmar while leaving us here in the game."

Asuna raised an eyebrow." How sure are you that they will try for the Grand Temple?"

Kilkin pointed to his guild mates." 22 players would like to disagree with you if they were alive. Eliminating these Dark Elves would be for the best fir all of us." He said somewhat impatiently.

Asuna bit her lip before looking back at her comrades. Peter and Godfrey nodded to her, either trusting her to make the choice to join Kilkin or believing in his story. Kurt's expression though showed that he was not pleased with what Kilkin had asked. But he was out voted by the two and she turned back to Kilkin." Fine, we'll help you."

Kilkin smiled, his plan coming together… while at the same time unknowing that the girl was also forming her own strategy.

/

Kirito hummed to himself the Legend of Zelda theme as he marched down the main street of Anlec along with his party. Due to his current appearance and the fact that this place looked like a ruined Hyrule, his predicament reminded him a lot of when Nintendo decided to go with a post-apocalyptic LoZ release. Like in the other game there were large area's were there weren't any mobs… only for them to come out of no where to attack them!

The thing was there wasn't any mobs and even after their short trip to the tower to do scouting they were unable to see any other sigh of inhabitation. That seemed to go against game principle since gamers were meant to fight against monsters and enjoy themselves. Kayaba may of screwed the gamers over but at least he kept to that principle while making the game. So the lack of mobs put Kiito on edge and he was using his search skill to find any sort of life.

That was when he noticed them. They were outlines, in the alleyways, behind windows hiding in the shadows, they were 8 cloaked figures.' Why is it that cloaks are such a fashion statement in this game?' He internally groaned before focusing on the task at hand.

He stopped walking and said to his guild." Raise your hands up slowly. We're surrounded." As soon as he finished he lifted his hands up and the sound of movement could be heard. From the clopping to hooves as the silver helms were reveiled from a street parallel to the main road, to the rustling of chainmail as spearmen cut off their escape from the other streets and the pull of bow strings.

The cloaked figures reveiled themselves and pulled their own bow strings back and were about to fire when suddenly there was a seemingly flash of white that appeared before Krito. Kirito saw the point of the raiper infront of his eyes and after a moment for his eyes to focus he saw her. She had auburn colored hair that fell to her waist, her eyes were of a light brown and she would have had a cute face if it wasn't furrowed in anger." How many High Elves have you killed?" She demanded.

Kirito gulped." Umm… you're the first one I've seen so…." Her face changed instantly from anger to questioning to understanding.

" How long have you been here?" The girl asked. As Kirito was about to answer he saw one of the cloak figures wave his arm down and his bowmen let go of their draw strings. Acting instinctively he pulled the high elf girl to the side before a pair of arrows whizzed by where both their heads used to be.

Arrows whistled around them, one hitting Silith in the hip, which he was still able to move away from the kill box with a few quick steps and another two arrows were stopped by Sanjay's armor. He was able to get a bead on one of his attackers and fire three bolts at him. One of the bolts missed, one embedded into his armor and a final fatal bolt shot the player in the throat causing him to fall from his perch onto the street below.

The dark elves were not the only targets though, the shadow warriors fired their bows at the high elves along with their small forces of bowmen. Some of the lightly armored bots fell from the arrows while the players remained largely unscaved, this was due to their better armor. Though it also helped Kurt that he was able to block one of the arrows by slicing it in half with his greatsword, Peter on the other hand was hit twice in the gut where his armor was weakest but he seemed to hardly notice the arrows instead he roared and went after shadow warrior bots. Godfrey, after having a trio of arrows embedded in his lion cloak, directed his bots fire at the shadow warriors troops.

After the initial volley Kirito and Asuna had separated, the pair going against the shadow warriors their own way. For Asuna she supported her group by going after the bot's and directing her player's to where the Shadow Warriors were. Kirito though went on a more proactive hunt for the player's themselves, using his search skill to find them and attempt to knock them out. His success rate for knocking them out was low and he killed one of the players.

As soon as the ambush started it ended with the shadow warriors breaking and running for their lives. They left their bot's behind to slow down the other elves. Asuna saw one of them break and run down a street, he was moving fast like all elves were but he was ahead of them and could disappear into a side alleyway. She needed one of them alive to get the full story on why they had led them into this trap. She lifted her hand and spoke aloud." _Thra Em Mov_!" The runner's speed slowed down to a crawl and she ran towards him.

Asuna's skill with hand to hand combat was very low in comparison to her other skills. But with her speed adding to the mass of her right fist against a target which was Moving at less than half his average speed, her punch delivered a blow to the Shadow Warriors skull which knocked him out. She moved infront of him as he fell and threw him over her shoulder. She was going to have some answers and she was going to have them soon.

/

The Dark and Southern High Elves were now gathered inside a building on the street that they were ambushed on. There was no plan for it to happen, Silith had just decided to rest in there to regenerate followed by Peter who was in just as bad shape. The rest followed afterwards.

Asuna was the last in the building with the knocked out Shadow Warrior, who she threw onto the ground." Tie him up." She told Godfrey, who did as his commander told him to.

As the Shadow Warrior was tied up Kirito walked up to Asuna and spoke." I got to say thanks on blowing the ambush wide open there miss…?"

She nodded to him and said." Asuna and your welcomed."

" Name's Kirito. I have to ask but why is was it that you and your party were working with the other elves?" The corsair asked.

Asuna shrugged with a sigh." It's because most of my group believed them, that they were under attack by you and you were the last of an invasion force. I had my suspicions though and when I saw that you and your group didn't have orange reticles I knew I had to confront you before your group was killed." She inclined her head to the still unconscious shadow warrior." I don't know the exact reasons why they had set the ambush up but he's going to tell us why."

It was Kirito's time to nod." Alright. Also that was an interesting spell that you used, but you're not a wizard build so I wonder how you used that. A ring of shadow?" He asked her.

She shook her head." No, I'm actually a Loremaster of Hoeth. I learned about the sub class from one of the players back in Saphery. Its… difficult to learn the signature spells and fighting skills at the same time, but it's worth it." Asuna ended with a smile.

Before Kirito could ask her anymore questions the shadow warrior awoke." Sorry but bigger fish to fry." Asuna said before going over to question the player.

After an half an hour of interrogating the prisoner and with a few threats to his HP, the elves now understood what had transpired to cause the Shadow Warriors to attack the two parties. The story began three days ago when the Midnight Bows fought against themselves in a brief power struggle. Kilkin was the guild master and wanted to turn the guild into a full time bandit enterprise and half f the then thirty person guild didn't want that, instead to work with the other tribes to eventually escape the game. When this disagreement erupted into violence two nights ago it was brief but devastating to the guild with over two thirds of it ding, but with Kilkin and his seven supporters still standing.

When Kilkin's scouts reported seeing both the Southern High Elves and the Dark Elves approach the city he came up with a plan to deal with both groups. That was by pitting both them against each other and when they were reduced to the remaining few players the Midnight Bows would move in to rob the survivors and then kill them. The plan was simple and had almost worked, if it wasn't for Asuna to be suspicious of their story.

Asuna and Kirito stipulated, after conversing with each other about the situation, that Kilkin had also gone through with the plan because it would give him vindication. After killing so many of his fellow guild mates about what direction they should of taken he needed to prove to the remainder of the guild that they were in the right. But now that it had fallen through with more of his guild dead.

With some extra information from the Midnight Bow member, at which point his worth was spent in intelligence, Asuna said to Peter." Get him out of here and cut him loose. We don't need him anymore."

As Peter took the Player outside and far enough away from the building to put on his own spin of 'cutting him loose', Kirito asked Asuna." So what are you going to do now?

"I'm going to write out a report and send it to Saphery. Then I think my group will rest here tonight and head out to search for friendlier guilds in the morning. What about you?" She asked the Dark Elf.

" I'm going back to the ship with the rest of crew and were going to head out to sea. After that were going to Chrace and then the Old World." Kirito told her.

Kurt turned his head to Kirito." You're going to the Old World?" He asked with hope in his voice.

Kirito answered him." Uh yeah, I just said it."

Kurt then asked a question." Do you have room for another party member? I promise I won't take up much room or my Silver Helms."

Asuna rested a hand on the older man's right shoulder." Kurt you sure that you want to do this? I'm sure that there'll be people from our nation that will want to go to the old world as well."

Kurt shrugged her off." Asuna between now and then either I or Desiree might die. I need to find her, please let me go find my wife."

Before either Asuna or Kurt said anything else, Kirito stepped in." We have room for him, if he wants to see his wife I can't stop him."

Kurt smiled widely and wrapped Kirito in a bone crushing bear hug." Thank you, thank you, thank you! I mean it your so awesome dude, thank you!"

Kirito coughed as he struggled to breath." H…HP bar!" He managed to get out.

"Oh, sorry." He let Kirito go. After that he open his menu and pressed a button, leaving Asuna's party. Then he sent an request to Kirito to join his party, which he did accept.

Kirito then smiled to Asuna and extended a hand to her." Well in the future I hope that we'll be able to work together."

Asuna took the hand and with a smile said." I hope so as well Kirito." Kirito decided that yes, Asuna's face was so much prettier when it did have a smile on it.


End file.
